Morph
by TB's LMC
Summary: AU. Yes, Steve was in Naval Intelligence. And yes, he is a SEAL. But he was also part of something else even he didn't know about. This is an "Incredible Hulk" fusion, not a crossover. Rated for language. Heavy bromance, no slash.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** This story is set any time during Season 1 before the finale. It keeps the finale and anything after it from ever happening and therefore is AU.

**Summary**: Yes, Steve was in Naval Intelligence. And yes, he is a SEAL. But he was also part of something else even he didn't know about. The fallout leaves Danny questioning everything and everyone he's ever known…and learning who he can really trust.

* * *

><p><strong>MORPH<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER ONE<strong>

"Um...Mary?"

She gasped and whirled to face him. "Detective...Williams?"

"Yes," Danny confirmed with a series of nods. "I didn't know you were here."

"I just got in on the redeye this morning and-do you know where Steve is?"

"He's not here?"

Mary shook her head. "He was supposed to pick me up from the airport, but never showed."

Every alarm bell in Danny's head sounded.

Wo Fat. Hesse. Any number of collared criminals. Enemies from Naval Intelligence. Former SEAL friends with axes to grind. Past lovers or girlfriends. Or, Danny's brain amended hastily, ones who'd wanted to be but never made it that far.

"I thought maybe he got tied up on a case," Mary said. "That he was with you and just couldn't answer his phone."

"No," Danny said, dragged out of his thoughts. "I'm here to pick him up for work. His truck's at Chin's, he was going to get it back from him at the office this morning."

"Detective." Mary's voice was small, her eyes large with fear. "Where's my brother?"

Danny shook his head. It had been his weekend with Grace. He hadn't talked to Steve since leaving the office at four on Friday to pick her up.

He racked his brain. Steve had seemed perfectly fine when Danny left the office. He'd been looking through some cold case files the governor had asked Five-O to solve. Danny remembered a stack of them on Steve's desk.

"Mary, stay here in case Steve comes home. Keep trying his cell."

"Where are you going?"

"To the office, to see if I can figure out what he was working on Friday."

"Oh," Mary exclaimed softly, laying a hand on Danny's forearm. "He mentioned something when I was on the phone with him Friday afternoon."

"What did he say?"

She frowned in concentration. "He said getting one more murderer off the street wasn't worth the risk."

"Risk? Risk of what?"

Mary bit her lip. "I wasn't real clear on that, but I don't always listen really well when we talk."

Her admission was neither apologetic nor shy. Danny suddenly felt sad for the brother-sister relationship those two had never really had. So unlike his own with his family.

"Let me know if so much as one hair on his head shows up," Danny said. "Or if you get him on his cell."

Mary nodded sharply. "You'll keep me in the loop?"

Danny looked at the barely concealed fear on her face and became aware of the fact that her hand was still on his arm. He squeezed it, and didn't let go. "Every step of the way," he promised. That, at least, got a smile.

Mary Ann McGarrett was pretty when she smiled.

* * *

><p>Separate calls to Chin and Kono had the cousins in the office only minutes after Danny arrived.<p>

Grabbing the cold case files from Steve's desk, Danny waited while Chin tried to pinpoint Steve's GPS cell phone locater, and Kono pulled up all Steve's cell phone, landline and work phone records to see who he'd talked to.

He found out from them that they'd been with Steve Friday evening, having barbecue and beers on his beach.

"So," Danny concluded, "the last time any of us saw him was nine Friday night. Anything seem off?"

"No," Chin replied. He was looking forward to seeing his sister."

"Yeah, he was in a good mood," Kono confirmed.

"Got it," Chin said. He pulled the map with its blinking red dot onto the large monitor mounted on the wall at one end of the bullpen. "But you're not going to like it."

"Los _Angeles_?" both Kono and Danny exclaimed in unison.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Danny added.

"According to this," Chin explained, gesturing to the computer table, "Steve's in LA."

"Or, at least, his phone is," Kono said.

"Whoa, he's on the move," Chin told them, zooming in on a satellite view of Los Angeles.

Three pairs of eyes watched intently as Steve's cell phone got on the 405 freeway headed north. Danny had a sudden thought. He pulled out his phone and realized he didn't have Mary's number, so he dialed Steve's landline instead.

"Hello?"

"Mary, it's Detective Williams."

"Did you find him?" Her voice sounded anxious.

"We're not sure. Where in LA do you live?"

"What? Why?"

Danny let a puff of air out. "Because Steve's phone is on the 405 freeway as we speak."

"Steve's in _LA_?" Mary asked, voice rising an octave.

"We only know for sure that his phone is."

"7557 Manchester, it's an apartment building, 203," Mary supplied. "It's just down the street from my rehab."

Danny's eyebrows rose. Rehab? Really. "I don't know shit about LA. Is Manchester near the 405?"

Kono was filtering through Steve's phone records while Chin zoomed in on a satellite photo of Mary's apartment building.

"Not far. You can take the Manchester exit off the 405 and go straight west 'til you hit my building."

Chin looked up at Danny, then at the wall monitor. "That's exactly what he's doing."

"Detective—"

"Danny."

Mary hesitated a moment. "Danny. Why is my brother going to my apartment twenty-five hundred miles from where I am?"

Kono's and Chin's faces seemed to be asking the same question. Danny suddenly wondered why any of them thought _he_ would know.

"Okay, look," Danny said, waving his free hand wildly, "here's what we're doing. I want HPD on McGarrett's house twenty-four/seven. Mary, you do _not_ leave the house, understood?"

"Yeah."

"Kono, dig into everything Steve has when you're done with his phone records. I want credit cards, bank accounts. Call Lieutenant Rollins, find out what she knows."

"On it," Kono said, face clouded with concern.

"Chin, you keep tabs on that phone and keep me updated. I also want you to go through these case files." He shoved the stack from McGarrett's office across the computer table. "Anything having to do with LA, any connections you can make."

"Got it."

"What are you going to do?" Mary asked through the phone.

"I'm flying to LA. Chin, get someone from LAPD to meet me at the airport, fill them in. I'll let the governor grease the wheels with California so immunity and means holds weight."

Chin nodded as Danny's attention returned to his cell phone. "Keep trying Steve's cell every thirty minutes," Danny said into the phone. Then he frowned. "I don't have your number."

Mary rattled it off to him.

"Okay, now, I'm booking myself onto the next flight outta here. Keep me updated by text while I'm in the air."

"You sure you should go alone, _brah_?"

"No, Kono, not sure. But—" Danny splayed his hands in front of himself.

"Detecti—Danny?"

"Yeah, Mary."

"Please bring my brother home."

A lump formed in Danny's throat. "I'm going to."

"Alive," she whispered.

He swallowed hard. "Count on it."

Danny ended the call, went into his office and closed the door. He picked up the landline and hit speed dial for Governor Jameson's private line.

Shit.

What was Steve up to?


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

Danny was annoyed.

The best flight he'd been able to get had him in the air for six hours. Then half an hour waiting to taxi to the gate, and another fifteen minutes trying to find his LAPD contact.

Unbelievable numbers of text messages with absolutely zilch to report. LAPD rendering any and all assistance thanks to friendly governors. A voice mail from Jameson that echoed Mary's plea to bring Steve home.

LAPD had checked out Mary's apartment, but although Chin insisted that's where Steve's phone was, found not a trace of the phone or its owner.

So now here they were, pulling up in front of the apartment complex at last. Officer Panatio was opening his door when Danny got a weird tingling along the back of his neck. He reached out a hand to still his temporary partner.

"No," Danny said, staring at the front of the small, dirty beige, square-shaped building. "Let me check it out."

Panatio shrugged like it didn't matter to him one way or the other. Good. Danny didn't need to try and explain to another cop something he couldn't begin to explain to himself. Sixth sense? _Partner_ sense? Who knew?

Danny was walking down the second floor hallway already before he unholstered his weapon. The tingle in his neck morphed to an all-out burning sensation.

_What the fuck?_ It echoed around in his mind as he crept nearer to the door of 203. He stopped cold at the click of the deadbolt. Looking down, he saw shadows that told of feet on the other side of the door.

Danny thumbed his weapon's safety off, moving to the side of the closed door. He lifted his hand, balled it into a fist and rapped the door three times with his knuckles.

The door was thrown open and the barrel of a shotgun poked out. Danny moved away from the wall, grabbed it and shoved hard, hearing a familiar "Oomph!" as the intruder stumbled back. What Danny saw made every hair on his entire body stand on end.

It wasn't Steve. And yet, somehow…it was.

"_No_!" a gruff but unmistakably Steve voice shouted. He held a hand over his face and tripped backward until he hit the back of a couch. "Don't _look_ at me!"

Danny felt the phone in his pocket vibrate. He pulled it out and saw it was Chin calling. Danny thumbed the line open, keeping his gun leveled at the strange man before him as he shoved the phone back into his pocket. At least this way Chin would hear everything, even if it turned bad. Well…worse than it was.

"Steve?"

"No."

"What the hell!"

_Slow your breathing, Danny, keep it together._

"_Go_, Danny! Get _out_!"

Steve had lifted his head from the crook of his arm and hand. Danny just about lost control of every motor function he had when he got a good look.

His partner's hair was longer, very wavy and sticking out in all directions. His eyes were the same hazel, but so bloodshot they almost glowed red. His face seemed to be bubbling, the bones beneath stretching in a way that simply wasn't possible.

Steve's height increased by several inches and his skin took on a sickening greenish hue. His biceps and really, every muscle group he had, grew to three times their normal size.

Steve's jeans ripped, splitting up the seams simultaneous with his work boots tearing open as his feet grew. The green coloring his skin grew darker even as his black tee shirt shredded around a chest that was quickly rivaling the broad side of a tank.

Danny had no spit left at all. He lowered his gun, knowing somehow that he didn't need it even as fight-or-flight was telling him in no uncertain terms to get the fuck out of there. _This can't be happening, it's not real, that's comic book shit, it can't be happening._

Big, green Steve tore the tattered shirt from his torso and tossed it away. He kicked the ruined boots from his feet and threw his head back. The roar he let out made Danny's ears ring and filled the room. Danny couldn't tear his eyes away. But what started out as a face full of pure hatred and anger softened slowly until it seemed more curious than anything.

"Did you just…" Danny's voice rasped against his too-dry throat. "Did you just hulk the fuck out?"

The monstrosity bore no resemblance to Steve except for his eyes. His skin was so green it nearly glowed. His hair was still wavy and dark, but long, wild and tinged with green.

"Steve?" Danny whispered as the creature stared at him. "That's you, right?"

It…_he_, Danny mentally corrected…growled very softly, twisting his head like a confused puppy. A gesture that was unmistakably Steve. There was a loud slam from the building's front entrance. Danny knew LAPD would be there inside a minute, they must've heard Steve's roar.

Steve who wasn't Steve seemed to know that, too. He looked directly into Danny's eyes and held out his hand. Danny shoved his gun into its holster and for reasons he didn't even think about, took what Steve offered. Large and green palm and fingers engulfed his own flesh-colored hand, making him feel even smaller than his normal five-foot-five.

Danny wasn't quite sure how it happened, but suddenly he was up and over a broad, green shoulder watching a green-skinned back – with that _tattoo!_ – and ripped blue jeans and a wooden floor as he hung over the green Steve's body.

There was a window at the end of the hall. Danny felt the leap coming just before Steve's pounding feet left the floor. He heard glass shatter and felt weightless. His hands flailed for purchase. One found itself palm-flat on super cool green skin, over Steve's spine. The other had to twist back and hook itself into the crook of the gigantic arm.

They hit the ground with an audible thump, Steve landing perfectly on his feet. Danny tried to crane his head back as his former partner, or whatever the hell he was, sprinted away with him. Shots rang out and green Steve ran faster.

They wound through miles of suburban sprawl. People out and about stared, screamed, crashed their cars as they gaped. They yelled and took photos and one idiot even tried to get in their way. Only Danny's peripheral vision caught the guy flying through the air and landing on a parked car.

Danny smelled ocean before he saw it. Steve slowed as the pavement became sand-covered. Danny saw a street sign that put them on Culver Boulevard. The road went out onto a beach, teeing right and left. They stopped.

The monster gently lifted Danny off his shoulder and placed him on his feet in the sand. His eyes seemed sad; his entire body drooped from exhaustion. There was nowhere to hide, and with the spectacle they'd created barreling down the middle of the street, Danny knew it wouldn't be long until LAPD caught up to them.

Steve moved sluggishly down to the water and kept going as Danny removed his phone from his pocket.

"Danny!"

"Chin, listen to me!"

"What—?"

"I need evac, I don't care, boat or copter or sea plane, give me something _now_!"

"On it!" Chin barked through the phone.

Kono picked it up. "You have Steve?"

"More or less," Danny replied as Steve sank down until the water was at his neck, and closed his eyes.

"Navy's got an amphibious helicopter en route," Chin reported. "We have an Admiral Chief of Naval Operations personally guaranteeing yours and McGarrett's safe transport to the Naval Medical Center in San Diego.

"That sounds like a really important person," Danny monotoned as Steve began to change right before his eyes.

"What's going on?" Kono asked.

Danny watched in disbelief as the green started fading and Steve's head glowed for a few seconds. His face shrank back to the shape and contours Danny knew. His hair shortened and darkened to its original state.

"I have no fucking _idea_," Danny breathed.

"Chopper ETA four minutes," Chin said. "Call us when you get to the hospital."

"Yeah," Danny replied, switching off the phone.

Steve's head began to sink underwater and Danny realized his friend wasn't even conscious. He pulled his shoes off and ran into the waves, making it to waist-high water before he had to dive in head-first.

He heard approaching chopper blades as he hauled Steve back to the surface, hands under his armpits. Steve's head lolled back on Danny's shoulder as the helicopter drew nearer.

If the Navy was perfectly happy to bail out a couple Hawaiian cops off the coast of California, Danny knew that somehow, they were involved in what he could hardly convince himself he'd just seen.

Steve spluttered and Danny shook him gently as the chopper landed on its pontoon feet. Large, round, scared eyes met Danny's. He raised his hand to the side of Steve's face as his partner gasped for air.

"Jesus Christ," he said into Steve's ear, thumb rubbing along the stubbled jaw. "What the _hell_ did they do to you?"


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

"If one more of you goddamn Navy assholes tells me 'it's classified' one more time, I'm going to make you wish you'd never heard of this Jersey cop, you got me?"

No amount of Danny's ranting was getting through to the camouflage-clad personnel currently guarding him, or so they said, in a small room somewhere on the hospital grounds. They had taken Steve, who'd been unconscious since being pulled from the Pacific, somewhere else entirely and refused to let Danny anywhere near him.

This was not sitting well with one Detective Williams, but he wasn't stupid enough to keep running off at the mouth when it was clear that didn't work on these military medic types. Bastards. What the _hell_ had they done to his partner? Classified meant secretive and secretive meant bad as far as Danny was concerned.

Steve had hulked out. How was that even _possible_?

But he'd seen it. He couldn't deny watching Steve turn big and green and then watching him turn back into his regular human self again. Gamma rays, that's what'd caused it in the comics and movies. Creation of Stan Lee or one of those guys, right? Yeah, comic books and movies. Oh, and back in the day, Danny was vaguely aware, a TV show, too.

Which meant it was not real. Not. Real.

Yet it was.

Danny ran both hands through his hair, dried in a haphazard manner after his dive into the ocean to save Steve's life. But Jesus H, what the hell kind of life _was_ it, anyway? How come Steve had never told him of his propensity for turning into comic book characters? Christ, all the times he'd ribbed Steve about being a superhero, was Steve always just biting his tongue because he couldn't tell Danny he actually _was_?

What the ever-loving _fuck_?

* * *

><p>He wasn't asleep. He was aware of each and every sound. Guards outside his door; at least they'd given him privacy for the overnight. But still, their boots thudded on concrete and Danny wondered if these Navy boys had a clue how loudly.<p>

He couldn't get the images out of his head. Every time he closed his eyes, burned into his retinas, replays of Steve changing and changing back again.

The coolness of his skin, the gigantic size of his body, yet still covered with familiar tattoos discolored by darkened green. His sheer strength, the way he leapt through a window and to the ground without so much as a grunt. How he tossed that guy in an arc through the air Danny knew the normal Steve couldn't have done with such ease.

But what haunted Danny most of all in the blinding darkness of the room with its single cot, metal toilet and porcelain sink reminiscent of a prison cell, was the look on the green Steve's face just after he'd let out the roar that still echoed in Danny's brain. That look, that innocent, frightened, sad, curious look. It had reminded Danny somehow of Grace.

The comparison was nothing less than odd and disturbing, yet there it was. Big Steve had been, Danny realized as he struggled through the comparison of one so small and beautiful, and one so big, scary and ugly…Big Steve had looked like nothing more than a lost child.

He sat up on the cot and rubbed a hand down his face. His tie had long ago been folded into a back pants pocket, and his shirt's first four buttons were undone leaving a white wifebeater peeking through the fabric and the small gold chain Grace had given him for his birthday just last month dangling lightly against the hollow of his throat.

"So you'll have me with you all the time, Danno," she'd said and yes, his eyes had misted and he'd hugged the stuffing right out of her.

But that seemed like a lifetime ago because since then, Danny's existence – which had been ordered and understood and full of expected occurrences even as McGarrett's full-time babysitter—had been turned on its head, shaken like a maraca and then flipped around repeatedly.

Yeah, it was still flipping around. Ride gone out of control, his life.

Well, now was not the time to bemoan how the fuck a comic book world had _become_ his life. No. Now was the time to find Steve, find out what the hell was going on, and somehow get things back to normal.

But why did Danny think _nothing_ would ever be normal again, no matter how much he wished it?

He sank back down onto the cot, momentarily out of ideas. He didn't even know where Steve was, and he'd been divested of his firearm upon entry to the hospital. Nobody would tell him anything, probably because he was a civilian, and he didn't even have a working cell phone thanks to the unexpected swim that kept Steve from drowning.

A pretty fucked up day by anyone's standards.

* * *

><p>Danny was startled awake by the clearing of a throat. He bolted off the cot and onto his feet, more than just a little surprised he'd actually been able to fall asleep at all. Two men in dress whites stood before him, looking (he supposed they thought so, at least) imposing with the brilliance of their uniforms, the colorful array of their various insignia and badges, and their ramrod-straight postures.<p>

Danny had been around Steve too long to be impressed.

"Where's McGarrett?" he asked, subconsciously standing as straight and tall as he could and puffing up his chest in defiance of their earlier silence.

"Detective Williams, I am Admiral Chief Joseph K. Samson, of Naval Operations. This is Vice Admiral James L. Pitcher."

When the two men held out their right hands, Danny ignored them, knowing he wasn't going to win any friends but not feeling like he had to. "Great, nice to meet you, you already know who I am, obviously. Now where is Steve?"

Samson withdrew his hand and narrowed his eyes. "Lieutenant Commander McGarrett has been secured and will be held for observation and treatment for an indefinite period of time."

Danny felt like he'd just been kicked in the gut. They were…and Steve was…_indefinite_?

"The United States Navy thanks you for your contribution to Naval operations, but your services are no longer required, Detective Williams."

"My…my _services_?" Danny squeaked. "Are you…I didn't render _services_ to the Navy or any-goddamn-one else! I want to know where my _partner_ is and when I can take him _home_! _Now_!"

"I'm afraid Lieutenant Commander McGarrett has resigned his post as head of your Five-O task force effective this morning at oh-five-hundred hours. Governor Jameson has instructed that you be escorted back to Honolulu where she is expecting you for a meeting at seventeen-hundred hours today."

"I am not going _any_where until you let me see _Steve_!" Danny fumed. He was pretty sure his face was scarlet going on purple. He could not believe the gall of these assholes!

Three camo-clad men entered the room and approached Danny, who backed away from them with his hands out. "I think I made my demands clear," he said venomously.

"I'm sorry, Detective Williams," the Vice Admiral finally spoke up, "but I'm afraid you have no choice in this matter. You are a civilian and do not have clearance to be provided with further information. Additionally, Lieutenant Commander McGarrett is currently under quarantine."

Danny just about let loose with a _Of course he's in quarantine, asshole, he turns into a big, green monster!_ But something told him to keep his mouth shut because something else told him these fuckers didn't mess around.

"I just want to see him," Danny decided to say, and much more quietly than his earlier outbursts. "I've worked with him a long time. The team deserves to know what's going on."

"I'm sorry, but no," the Admiral Chief said with a shake of his head but absolutely no empathy in his eyes. "These three gentlemen will be escorting you to Los Angeles International Airport," he continued with a nod at the three camo-clad guys off to Danny's right. "You will be transported back to Honolulu via a T-44A Pegasus aircraft, and then taken directly to the governor's residence for your meeting. At that time, these men will take their leave of you."

Well. Danny was royally fucked. There was no way he'd be able to ditch three Navy guys, and for all he knew these assholes were SEALs or something similar, making it ten times harder. The men in dress whites nodded curtly and left the room, and Danny couldn't figure out whether to go ahead and start wailing on the men left behind or just start yelling his fool head off and making a spectacle to attract _someone's_ attention.

In the end, as two of the men flanked him and the third brought up the rear, Danny figured his best bet was _not_ to do anything that would jeopardize his freedom. If nothing else, Steve needed him out there. And maybe Jameson knew something that would set all this straight.

But with every step that took him closer and closer to the exit of the hospital, Danny felt his stomach sink lower and lower until, moving into the bright Los Angeles sunshine and toward a black SUV parked nearby, Danny felt it bottom out completely.

Something was very, very wrong with Steve. Something top Navy brass didn't want Danny to know about. He'd seen things he couldn't explain, and now he was leaving his…his best _friend_…to a fate he couldn't even fathom.

As he scooted into the back seat of the SUV and all the way across, followed by one of his escorts, Danny squared his shoulders and his jaw. He'd gone down the road of despair and tremendous guilt once, in the aftermath of his divorce from Rachel. He wasn't going to go there again.

He was going to do something. He was going to find out what the hell was going on, and how to get Steve back where he belonged. Navy be damned.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

It was quarter after four by the time Danny and his three escorts reached the governor's residence. The men waited together until some aide of Jameson's came to tell Danny he would be seen now. As Danny followed the aide into the governor's study, he heard the Navy boys leave.

He was already fuming, but full of curiosity and hopeful he was about to get answers when he sat down across from Governor Pat Jameson. Unfortunately, the look on her face made the fuming up itself about ten notches and the hope completely disappear.

"Detective Williams," she nodded, speaking evenly and formally, and Danny had already had enough of that shit from the damn Navy. He shot to his feet, hands waving, pacing back and forth as she sat placidly watching, only her eyes following his movements.

"You will _not_ tell me I have to leave this alone, Governor, I don't care if you're my boss," he began and shit, talk about the wrong thing to say to the woman who signs your paychecks. "You will _not_ tell me this is classified Navy business and that I have no right to know, that Steve's _team_ has no right to know."

Danny stopped to look at her, and found her sitting in the same upright position only now with her fingers clasped loosely together in front of her face. And she was no longer watching him. He huffed out a breath of air, then continued to pace and gesture wildly.

"This is _not_ acceptable, _nothing_ about this is normal. I saw something I think qualifies me for an insanity plea should I choose to go postal over whatever the hell it is you're _not_ going to tell me. I saw the head of _your task force_, _my_ partner, my _best friend_ change, and I will _not_ just sit around this goddamn sorry excuse for a tourist trap of an island with my thumb up a very dark part of my anatomy because it's considered _classified_!"

This time Danny plopped unceremoniously into the same chair he'd occupied for all of ten seconds after being ushered in by the now-absent aide. Jameson didn't meet his eyes for a good, long while and Danny felt something grip his heart that he hadn't felt since the time Grace and Rachel had been carjacked. He felt fear.

"You don't know, do you?" he asked, voice considerably quieter. "You don't know what's happened to Steve, or what's wrong with him."

Finally her eyes met his and slowly she shook her head. "I only know that Steve signed a resignation letter, which was sent to me via email at five-oh-five this morning."

Danny leaned forward. "What did it say?"

The governor pulled something up on her computer, then turned the screen so Danny could see it.

_Governor Jameson:_

_I have been recalled to active duty effective immediately by the United States Navy, and will therefore be unable to continue fulfilling my position with the Five-O task force. I regret any inconvenience this may cause, and appreciate your understanding in a time when discretion is required._

_Sincerely,_

_Lieutenant Commander Steven J. McGarrett_

Danny read it, read it a second time and then went through it yet a third time before he looked up at her and said, "Steve didn't write this."

She seemed to deflate a bit, relaxing back into her chair. "I didn't think so either."

"What did the Navy tell you?"

"Nothing," Jameson replied, tone angry enough to tell Danny she was on his side even if she couldn't help. This time she was the one who rose to her feet and began to pace, gesturing but not nearly as wildly as was Danny's wont. "Bastards won't take my calls, and I've hit on every military contact I have, even the ones who owe me favors, and can't get _jack_ out of them."

There was a pregnant silence as Jameson reseated herself, smoothing her skirt and taking a deep breath. She leaned her elbows on her desk and joined her hands together in a tight ball beneath her chin. "Detective Williams," she began, then closed her eyes for a moment. When she reopened them, she changed tactics. "Danny."

He was surprised. He'd rarely spoken directly to her in his time with Five-O; that had always been McGarrett's pleasure. And they'd certainly never been on a first-name basis.

"Effective immediately you are the head of Five-O," Jameson said, but her tone was soft and friendly rather than the business-like one he knew best. And was it just his imagination, or did she sound a little sad, too? "You have a new rank, and the same accesses, the same rights and privileges afforded to the leader of my task force," she continued, leaning forward conspiratorially. "Officially, none of us is to touch Steve McGarrett or what's going on with him, with a ten-foot pole."

"Unofficially?" Danny asked, and didn't really care what the answer was because they both knew he'd be doing it anyway.

"Unofficially, you are to work on nothing _but_ what's happened to Steve, with any support I can provide."

Danny was shocked into near-silence, but did have the presence of mind to say, "I don't know…thank you."

She nodded. "However, as I've already explained, I'm absolutely no use to you where the military is concerned, Navy or otherwise. I will, however, protect you to the best of my ability throughout your investigation. And Danny, let me make something _crystal_ clear here."

He swallowed hard. She looked…mean. But he nodded all the same.

"As far as I'm concerned, this is not just an investigation," she said, leaning back in her chair again. "This is a rescue mission. That means I fully expect to see you right here in this office in the very near future with Steve McGarrett standing by your side where he _belongs_."

Danny felt something give inside his chest. He wanted nothing more than that, too, and thought _Shit, at least this lady's on the same page as me_. Instead of voicing that, however, he simply asked, "What about our current active cases?"

"Every active case you have is being transferred back to HPD today. I've already spoken to the appropriate personnel, and your teammates are in the process of doing the hand-off." She narrowed her eyes, staring at her computer screen like it might just want to jump off the desk and attack her. "Officially, I am putting Five-O on cold cases."

"The files you gave to Steve."

She nodded. "Yes. My excuse is that I want no crime in Hawaii to go unsolved, and it'll keep Five-O looking like it's still doing legitimate work. But on the side, it's all about Steve." She sat up straight and looked right into his eyes. "Are we clear, Danny?"

"Yes, Governor Jameson."

She half-smiled. "You get that man back here in one piece, it'll be Pat over tequila and hot wings at Buffalo Wild Wings on me for life. _Lieutenant_."

Danny stood up, eyes wide. He tried to smile, but knew it was forced. Lieutenant was two ranks above Detective, but he couldn't even stop to think about that now. His mind was already miles ahead on what he and the team were going to do first. He reached across the desk with his right hand as Jameson stood, too.

"Thank you, Governor. Trust me when I say that nothing right now is more important to me than what's happened to Steve. _Nothing_."

They shook hands, Jameson nodding in understanding and maybe even sympathy. Danny turned on heel, strode out into the main hall and was a little surprised not to find the three Navy men waiting for him. Somehow he just felt like them letting him go this easily was too good to be true.

But he wasn't about to look this particular gift horse in the mouth. The first thing he was going to do was stop at the Apple store and get a new iPhone to replace his waterlogged one. Next, would be a call to the bullpen to give Chin and Kono marching orders…which he still had to figure out. After that would be a trip to Rachel and Stan's to speak with both Rachel and Grace, because Grace _had_ to be told her Uncle Steve wasn't going to be around for a while.

And Rachel had to be told that Danny might be getting himself into the deepest shit of his life.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

The Apple store employees knew Five-O team members on sight. They had to replace their phones _that_ often. It was pathetic, really, but it made for a quick in and out with a new phone. Danny slid into the driver's seat of his Camaro, cranked the A/C full-blast and called Chin. First he found out there was absolutely _nothing_ in _any_ of Steve's records…the ones they have access to, at least…that shed the smallest light to what's going on.

Second, he found out there's nothing in any of the cold case files that links to Los Angeles, or Mary, or the apartment she's been renting there. Nor to the Navy, nor to anyone in Steve's past (that they're aware of), nor to anyone involved with Five-O, up to and including the governor.

Third, Kono advised she can't get hold of Catherine Rollins, and that even calls to the woman's superiors, including the Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise, go unanswered. Danny filed that away for later, hoping Steve's on-and-off girlfriend hadn't gotten herself into an equal amount of trouble as her SEAL boyfriend seemed to have.

Fourth, he told Chin and Kono to each pick one of the cold cases because that'll officially be what Five-O is working on now that they're down to three, and yeah, he had to tell them he's in charge now and has been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant because the head of the task force had to be at _least_ that. Then he advised he'll be heading over to the Edwards house for about half an hour, and will grab take-out for them on the way back to the bullpen, when they will be talking about precisely what's going on.

Chin and Kono were chomping at the bit, but understood.

"Oh, and Kono, give Mary a call, will you? Tell her I'll call her when we have more to divulge, but that as far as we know, Steve is alive."

"Thank God," Kono breathed, and Danny forgot he hadn't even had the decency to tell his teammates that.

"Sorry, guys. A bit stressed here."

"S'okay, _brah_," Chin said, and Danny could practically see the shrug of his shoulder. "We get it."

"I'll see you both in about an hour," Danny said as he cut the call. Next he dialed Rachel's home phone, only to be told Grace was going for a sleepover directly after school with a friend of hers and wasn't expected home until the next evening.

Danny decided this meant he and Rachel still needed to have the talk, even without Monkey there, so he headed for hers and Stan's place. Then he got an idea. What was it Steve had said once? Something about someone to call if ever something happened to him, and Danny strained to recall the conversation precisely. It had been just under two months ago. As the scene started coalescing in Danny's mind, he wondered if somehow Steve had _known_.

"_Christ, man, I had no idea where you'd gone!"_

"_Sorry, Danny. I got the call at two a.m. I didn't exactly have time to leave love notes."_

_Danny grinned. "Love notes," he scoffed. "But what was it about?"_

"_Classified," Steve responded automatically, then smiled sheepishly as Danny growled. "I'm sorry, I just…you know I can't."_

"_I know, I know. But…" Danny's voice trailed off. He looked away from his partner, focusing instead on some chachkis behind Steve's father's desk._

"_But what?" Steve asked, moving forward and placing a hand on his friend's shoulder._

"_What if you up and disappear like that one day, and don't—you know," Danny finished with a flap of his hand, both unable and unwilling to give his fears voice._

"_That won't happen, Danno."_

"_You can't possibly say that!" Danny bellowed, whirling away from Steve's grasp. "You get called out in the wee hours and next thing you know you're halfway around the world and nobody even knows you've been sent out, we only know you've disappeared off the face of the Earth and then what, you get killed in the line of duty and maybe even _then_ we wouldn't be told and—"_

_Steve was in his personal space in two strides, his hands on Danny's shoulders. Danny wasn't sure he'd ever seen such a deadly serious look on Steve's face before, including all the serious faces the man had sported throughout their partnership._

"_If anything, and I mean _anything_ happens to me," Steve said in a near whisper. "If I disappear and it isn't anything local, if you cannot find me on Oahu, then you call Lieutenant Commander John Tamara."_

_Danny swallowed hard and nodded once, unable to tear his eyes from Steve's._

"_When you get him on the phone, and you'll know, because the number I give you is only one I would call him on, you say a single phrase, all right?"_

_Danny nodded again._

"_You do _not _write any of this down. Understood?"_

"_Understood," Danny said, though his voice was nothing more than a cracked whisper._

"_The number to call is McGarretts. Do you understand?"_

_Danny's mind raced. How was the plural of Steve's last name a phone number? He saw something flicker in Steve's eyes._

"_Just look at the keypad on your phone and spell it out, Danny," Steve said and he'd leaned so close to Danny's ear, yet Danny could still barely hear him. "And when he answers, say, "Hau`oli la Hanau, Danny, can you say that? It's Hawaiian, can you say it?"_

_Steve, by then, was nose-to-nose with his partner, eyes boring right through Danny's skull. Danny thought, fuck his life, because how the hell was he supposed to remember some shit like that?_

"_How…" Danny struggled. "How-oh-lah Hanoo."_

"_Not quite," Steve said, "but you're doing good." Steve's hand came around the back of Danny's neck, eyes still locked with his. "Hah-oo oh-lee," he said, "and then Hahnah-oo."_

_Danny took a deep breath. "Hah-oo oh-lee," he repeated and Steve actually smiled. "Hahnah-oo."_

_Steve nodded, let go of Danny and backed out of his personal space. "It means Happy Birthday," he whispered. "Remember that information and you will _always_ know what's happened to me."_

It had taken a few moments for Danny to stop shaking in his patent leathers at the sheer intensity of that moment with McGarrett, like it was something that was so very essential to their continued existence in some way. Or, as now seemed to be a good new working theory, like Steve had just _known_ something was looming on the horizon.

Danny picked up his new iPhone from the passenger seat and slid the bar to get it to the desktop. He thumbed the Phone button, then the Keypad button. He looked at the keypad and remembered _McGarretts_. With his eyes, he traced the letters on the screen, and then realized – that single word had the exact amount of letters that a regular phone number had digits, if you included the area code.

Quickly he tapped the name out on the keypad, put the phone to his ear, and prayed.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

The man's voice on the other end of the phone had said a single word only…or maybe it was two words, with Hawaiian Danny never could tell…before ending the call. "Maopopo iaʻu."

Danny phonetically repeated the sound back to himself over and over, then just voice recorded it into the iPhone so he could play it back for Chin and Kono to get a translation. Next came the trip to Rachel's, and Danny's inability to tell her very much left her frustrated, but grateful that he was keeping her in the loop. She promised to let Grace know Steve was on a secret mission for an indeterminate amount of time if the subject of him arose, but other than that, would tell their daughter nothing.

He thanked her and pointed the Camaro toward the palace. It was now time to get the rest of the team…of _Steve's_ team…up to speed, and to make some serious plans for next steps. There was no way any of them were going to let Steve go without a fight. Danny knew the cousins would agree with him. That if they had to take on the entire United States Navy, they would.

"It means 'I understand,' _brah_," Chin said.

Danny had just spent the past forty-five minutes explaining to two stunned cousins precisely what had happened from the moment Steve-but-not-quite-Steve-with-a-shotgun had thrown open Mary's apartment door, to the moment Danny had walked out of Governor Jameson's office with a new title and a task force he didn't want.

"He turned…green." This from Kono, whose face hid none of the skepticism she felt.

"Like the Incredible Hulk," Chin confirmed, though it sounded suspiciously more like a question than a statement.

Kono opened her mouth to speak, but someone opened the double glass doors to the bullpen. All three Five-O team members turned as one to find a man dressed in blue jeans, a black tee shirt and a black button-down hanging open over it. His feet, however, were clad in black boots and Danny recognized them as identical to the ones Steve oftentimes wore.

The man had close-cropped hair, not quite in crew-cut shape, and seemed to be hovering somewhere between forty-five and fifty years of age. Dark blue eyes stared first at Kono, whose chin raised defiantly under their scrutiny. Next the eyes perused Chin Ho from head to toe, and his usual composed demeanor stayed in place.

Lastly the eyes fell on Danny, who said, "Tamara," like he knew the answer and therefore wasn't actually asking a question.

"Lieutenant Williams," the man said with only the slightest nod toward Danny.

Danny wasn't stupid. He'd only just been promoted by Jameson, and Chin and Kono were the only ones he'd told. He hadn't even mentioned it to Rachel. So if Tamara knew…

"I take it you've spoken with the governor."

"I have, Lieutenant," Tamara nodded again. "I am here in an unofficial capacity, hence my state of dress."

_Steve would give me such shit for using 'hence' in that sentence._ Danny wished like hell Steve was actually there to do so.

"I want assurances that your headquarters is not bugged."

Chin's eyes widened. "We have a constant jammer running and I personally sweep for any technology that's not ours early Monday mornings before everyone else gets in."

"It's Tuesday evening. Check again," Tamara demanded.

Chin nodded and pulled up a program on the computer table. Within seconds a small blue light hummed to life on all four sides of the table and each of its four corners. The computer screen transferred its display automatically to the giant monitor hanging on the wall not far from where Tamara stood.

They all watched as the table's scanners did their work, the program analyzed the readings, and the table pronounced the entire bullpen and all offices free and clear of bugs or anything else untoward. Chin raised an eyebrow in Danny's direction.

"Lieutenant Commander John Tamara," Danny said, striding forward and stopping well within the Navy man's personal space. "What the _hell_ did you do to my partner?"

Tamara's stoic indifference to Danny's frontal assault reminded him so much of the Steve that he'd first met that Danny faltered momentarily. But he quickly regained his composure and stared the taller man down. Taller by a good ten inches, and don't think Danny didn't know he'd have a crick in his neck in about forty seconds.

"_I_ did nothing to him. However, I have information about what was done, and while I could never reveal the information to Steve, I promised him that if a situation arose for any reason in which his Five-O was not involved, I would do what I could to help."

"Two things," Danny seethed, holding the requisite number of fingers in the air right near Tamara's cheek. "One, who the hell are you to Steve? Two, why should we trust you?"

Tamara looked at Danny for a few seconds too long, as if considering something, before he gave a curt nod and turned so he could see Chin and Kono as well. "As Lieutenant Williams indicated, I am Lieutenant Commander John Tamara," he said. "I know each of you by name, file and reputation."

Chin shared a glance with Danny, then with Kono. Danny, for his part, looked like he wanted to strangle Tamara.

"Lieutenant Commander McGarrett and I were sent on several classified missions together during our time on active duty as SEALs. It was during one of these missions that I was informed by a high-ranking Naval official that McGarrett had been chosen for a mission classified so Top Secret, no one but the highest in ranks even knew it existed. He was removed from our small camp and I was advised to continue our mission solo."

Danny narrowed his eyes. "You just let them _take_ him?"

"When you're in the Navy, Lieutenant, you follow orders even if those orders get you killed."

"Now I know where Steve gets it," Danny muttered, waving a hand at Tamara to continue.

"However, Steve didn't always follow the rules, and neither did I." Tamara ignored another muttered curse from Danny. "That's why our success rate when paired was one hundred percent. So when they took Steve away," Tamara said with a pointed look at Danny, "I followed them."

"You saw what they did?"

"Not personally, no. However, I managed to infiltrate the small base where they took him and find the experiment's files."

"Experiment?" Kono repeated. "They experimented on him?"

"Your task force leader was subjected to multiple rounds of high-level gamma radiation exposure as part of a Top Secret Naval initiative to enhance mens' strength, response time and ability to heal from injuries."

"Are you telling us they tried to create super soldiers?" Chin asked, eyebrows clear up to his hairline.

"In a manner of speaking," Tamara replied. "Though the gamma radiation wasn't the only thing the subjects were bombarded with." The man pulled a thumb drive out of his pocket and handed it to Chin, who put it into one of many USB ports on the computer table and waited while the information on it loaded.

"Gamma rays," Danny said, deadpan. "You do realize you're telling us a story out of a comic book."

"I realize that's how it sounds, yes," Tamara nodded. "For all I know that's how the research doctors came up with the idea. But it was a combination of gamma ray activity and mitochondrial DNA replacement therapy that produced the condition Lieutenant Commander McGarrett now suffers from."

The thumb drive finally opened to reveal a series of scanned and photographed documents. Tamara spent the next hour walking the team through all of them, what they all meant to the best of his knowledge.

"And McGarrett was the only subject who remained on active duty after," Tamara finished as Chin scrolled to the final page on the drive.

Danny felt a vein or five in his head and neck getting ready to pop. "Why didn't you _tell_ him they'd done this to him?" Danny asked when at last they reached the last document stamped with TOP SECRET in bold red letters and making Danny's gut twist tighter than a brand-new snare drum. "Goddammit, he had a right to _know_!"

"They said the experiments were a failure, didn't you listen to the last half-hour of paperwork I went over?" Tamara asked, face reddening. It was the first time any of them had seen him lose the rigidity he'd displayed since walking in the door.

"They may have failed to do what your precious Navy _wanted_ them to do," Danny seethed, clenching and unclenching his fists, "but they turned my best friend into a _monster_! This wasn't worth fucking _mentioning_ to him?"

"I didn't know any of that," Tamara said, and seemed to shrink two sizes right in front of the team's eyes.

"What do you mean, you didn't know? Has this never…happened to Steve before?" Chin asked.

"Not to my knowledge. I kept in touch with him by bouncing off so many IPs around the world no one would ever be able to trace our communiqués. It was mostly because I was still doing classified work and couldn't be caught talking to a reservist, but it was also for me to keep tabs on him, see if anything like side effects ever came up."

"Side effects," Danny said in an unusually calm manner. "This is one hell of a goddamn side effect. He turns into the Incredible goddamn _freaking_ Hulk!"

"Well, I didn't see anything," Chin said after a bit. "But I was listening to everything over the phone. And I mean _everything_, including that roar you mentioned right after he…changed."

Danny nodded. "I saw him morph to the big, green guy and then morph back to Steve. And he nearly drowned because of it."

"So what's this all mean?" Kono asked, and Danny wasn't surprised to read continued skepticism on her face. Hell, if it'd been her or Chin who'd reported this back to him, he would've sent them for week-long psych evaluations within minutes.

"My question exactly," Danny added.

"It means that we've got to get him out of wherever he's been taken."

"Ya think?" That surprising bout of sarcasm came from Chin, causing Danny to smirk. If even the unflappable was becoming flapped, he didn't feel so bad wanting to rip Tamara's throat out.

Tamara eyed Chin, then Kono, and finally looked right into Danny's eyes. "It means, we have to get into a military base, find him, and get him out without any of us dying."

"Which base?" Kono asked.

"I put a couple feelers out. Best I can tell, he's either been taken to the Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton, which is where he was transferred to after the chopper picked the two of you up, or he's right here at the Barking Sands Missile Range Facility."

"On Kauai?" Chin asked incredulously. "Why would they keep him at a Missile facility rather than a hospital?"

"Better defense against anyone trying to take him than a hospital?" Kono offered.

Danny's eyes widened, his mouth tightening into a hard, thin line. He watched Chin and Kono and their silent communication using only their eyes and maybe the twitch of a finger every now and then. "Lieutenant Commander Tamara," Danny said evenly, "please wait in my office for a moment." He pointed toward his open office door.

Tamara immediately complied, shutting the door behind him and standing with his back to it, arms folded across his chest. Danny idly wondered if they taught SEALs to stand like that or if it was just something that came naturally from having been one.

He moved quickly around the table until he, Chin and Kono had formed a close three-point triangle.

"What do you think?" Chin asked Danny. "Odds are definitely not anywhere near in our favor."

Kono bit her lip. "I think if it was one of us in there, our boss wouldn't hesitate to go in solo to rescue us or die trying. The least we can do is go in with four of us. We owe him that much."

"We don't know that we can trust this Tamara," Chin offered.

"I think we have to," Danny said, scrubbing a hand down his face. "After all, he's still active Navy. The fact that he's here at all means he's putting his entire career on the line."

"Steve must mean a lot to him," Chin said.

Danny looked through his office door's window at the straight-lined back against the other side. His gaze softened just a bit as he replied, "When you're in constant life or death situations with a partner, it kind of happens."

Chin laid a hand on Danny's shoulder. "I know what you mean, _brah_. I'm in."

"And if you think you're leaving _me_ behind, you've got sunstroke," Kono said, fake-punching Danny's jaw.

"Who knew," Danny said with a frown, "that all this time Steve really _was_ a Super SEAL?"

Kono giggled, albeit nervously, and Chin managed to crack a smile. Humor. It was really the only way Danny could deal with the fact that he was about to lead Steve's entire team, and a Navy SEAL he'd never met until today, on a suicide mission.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

Tamara had been gone for an hour. Once he'd learned Five-O was deadly serious about going after McGarrett, he'd gone to see if he could get confirmation as to Steve's exact location. By the time Hour Two came and went, Five-O was beyond antsy. As they neared the three-hour mark, Danny jumped up from behind his desk with such force that his chair tipped backwards, the clatter bringing Chin and Kono charging out of their offices.

The three of them looked at each other. "He's not coming back," Chin said softly with a shake of his head.

Danny swallowed hard. Kono bit her lip. Another person Steve most likely had cared about, taken from him. All because of something for which he was totally blameless. Danny closed his eyes for a moment. If they did get Steve back safe and sound, and if they could somehow figure out how to fix him, the loss of the man he'd trusted enough to give him to Danny as an emergency contact would hurt like hell.

Danny was going to be just full of fantastic news for Steve next time he saw him. From the whole gamma ray experiment to Tamara's sudden appearance and subsequent disappearance, the Navy had been fucking Steve over repeatedly for more years than Danny cared to count. He'd given everything he was to the military, and what had it gotten him? Front and center as a lab rat, someone who would never be allowed a normal life, _couldn't_ have a normal life if he went through it hulking out at every turn.

And that led Danny's mind back to a question that'd been nagging at him since Tamara's departure. Why hadn't Steve ever done this before? Why had he hulked out now? Why not back when his father had been killed while he listened over the phone? Why not when Mary Ann had been kidnapped? Why not when he'd been shot, cut, beat up?

True, it was pain or anger or frustration that had turned the comic book Banner into the Hulk, and that didn't necessarily hold true for the real-life Steve version. DNA manipulation, gamma ray overload…Danny cursed the fact that he wasn't more scientific and that was when his mind went to someone who was.

Max Bergman. Now that man knew his shit, and he was someone Danny felt they could trust with Steve's secret. When they got him back. Which was not going to be anything near easy with just the three Five-O team members against a whole Navy base or hospital or whatever.

Chin had not only uploaded the entire thumb drive to their secure Cloud, where all of Five-O's secret files were backed-up; he'd also copied it onto two duplicate thumb drives, one of which Kono had placed somewhere on her person Danny didn't want to know about, and the other Chin handed to Mary Ann McGarrett as she walked through the double glass doors.

She'd been crying, that much was obvious. Danny had phoned her forty minutes earlier when he'd already decided Tamara wasn't returning. He'd told her only that her brother was alive, and that they knew he was currently at one of two places. Now, he'd have to tell her the rest.

Chin and Kono said they'd go get some takeout, to give Danny and Mary privacy for a talk Danny was dreading. The cousins gave him twin looks of sympathy, and it was all Danny could do to keep himself composed for what he knew was coming.

And as he figured would happen, Mary Ann reacted first with utter shock and disbelief. Second, was the angry grief that was so understandable and left Danny's chest with more than a handful of bruises from Steve's little sister pummeling it. Last, and most uncomfortable of all, were the tears.

"I don't understand," Mary cried, clinging to Danny's now-soaked and wrinkled dress shirt. "If he's never changed like that before, why did he go all the way to my apartment to _do_ it?"

"I don't know, Mary," Danny said, arms around her, a hand rubbing circles into her back. "I never got a chance to talk to him, I have no idea how much he did or didn't know. Tamara made it seem like Steve knew nothing, and didn't know about the morphing thing himself."

"This is so surreal, like I'm back on drugs again, like I'm tripping," Mary Ann sniffled, backing away. Danny grabbed an unused folded paper towel from his desk just as Chin and Kono returned with so many containers of Chinese food he wondered if Jun Bo had any food left at all.

The cousins retreated to another conference room, where there was a non-computer table and a few televisions hanging up on the wall. As Danny led a now-sniffling but fairly calm female McGarrett into the room, he remembered himself and Steve seated in the chairs there, legs propped up on the table, watching the CHiPs marathon and arguing about who was Ponch and who was John.

He closed his eyes, but didn't realize how long they'd been closed for until Mary Ann shook him gently. "Hey," she said. "I guess I'm not the only one worried about him, huh?"

Danny opened his eyes to find a watery smile on her face. He put his arm around her and gave her a quick squeeze. "Not by a longshot," he replied as Chin and Kono nodded in agreement. "Come on, let's eat."

* * *

><p>The team didn't talk much about what was happening while they ate, but finally it all just seemed to get to Mary Ann. She slammed her half-eaten egg roll down on the table and jumped to her feet. Shortly she began to pace, biting her lip so hard Danny thought it'd start bleeding at any moment.<p>

"Mary?" he said carefully. After all, he didn't really know her at all other than having briefly met her before the entire kidnapping fiasco. Most of what he knew had come in bits and pieces from Steve. But she was Steve's sister and whatever happened, Danny knew he'd spend the rest of his life doing everything he could for her. Especially if her brother—

Thankfully the morose thought was cut off by Mary's voice. "What are you guys going to do to get my brother back?" she asked, whirling on them so fast her hair landed half across her face. She puffed and smoothed it out of her eyes and waited, arms hugging her torso and glaring at each of them in turn.

Chin and Kono just looked at Danny. They were definitely taking their cues from him now, as though anyone with McGarrett as a last name was his territory to preside over and wasn't that both gratifying and disturbing on so many levels. Danny sighed loudly, buying himself a few seconds to get his thoughts in order. Mary Ann waited. Chin took a drink of his water while Kono chased a shrimp around its container with a set of chopsticks.

"Well," Mary said impatiently.

"Definitely a McGarrett," Danny muttered, then rose to his feet. "All right, here's what we have right now." He gestured for Mary Ann to sit down. She perched on the edge of the chair she'd occupied and reached for the rest of the egg roll, stuffing it in her mouth as Danny walked a few paces around the room to gather himself together.

"Okay, we're making the assumption Lieutenant Commander Tamara was put out of commission by the Navy, one way or another," he began, rubbing his hands together like he was trying to wash the knowledge of just what that could've entailed away.

"We have all the information, presumably, that Tamara'd gotten his hands on over the years. We know he didn't tell Steve about any of it, and that as far as he knew, Steve wasn't even aware he'd been experimented on." He spat _experimented_ out of his mouth with great venom. He felt gratified by the similar looks of distaste on Kono's and Chin's faces. He was concerned about the confused one on Mary's.

"So if we go with the fact that Steve never knew about what the Navy did to him, and the fact that nowhere in reality, as far as I know, has anyone ever reported seeing a Hulk lookalike running around in ripped pants, we have to assume his first hulk-out occurred there in your apartment," he said with a nod to Mary Ann.

"But why was he _there_?" she asked. "He knew I was coming _here_."

Danny looked at her thoughtfully. "You said when you talked to him Friday, he was saying something about it not being worth the risk."

Mary Ann nodded. "Yeah, he was saying something and I, just, kind of, you know, zoned. But I remember him saying that getting one more murderer off the streets just wasn't worth the risk."

"What's that mean?" Chin asked.

Danny splayed his hands out in front of himself as he shrugged. "You two checked through all the cold case files he was looking through and found no connections to LA, to any McGarrett, to the Navy…"

"Yeah, _brah_, we checked _everything_. We even dug back into Steve's school years, his Annapolis years, every one of his investments, and even all of us that he's known since returning to Hawaii," Kono explained. "We couldn't get so much as a whiff of anything fishy to go on."

"And we'd just wrapped up the Keahi case. We all knew that one backwards and forwards and there was no connection to Steve at all."

"Other than the fact that they were both born here, no," Chin confirmed.

Danny's eyebrows shot up. "Wait. Wait, that's it. Chin! That's it!"

"Wha-?" Kono's eyes grew large and round.

"Those cold case files. Did you check into where Steve was _born_? See if there's any connection with the suspects, the murder victims? And Mary Ann. Where were you born?" He said it all so fast it took Mary a moment to catch up.

"Ah, um, Steve and I were both born at Queens. I don't get it, what the hell does that have to do with him turning into a comic book character?"

"Maybe nothing," Chin said, rising to his feet and hitting the door of the conference room the same time as Kono. "But it's worth looking into."

"Great," Mary Ann said with an exasperated wave of her hand. "So we have to sit around while they dig back through thirty-plus years of baby books to find nothing."

"No," Danny said. "No, we don't at all. I never finished my recap of what we've got."

"Doesn't sound like we have shit," she said, swiping an arm over her eyes.

"We know one of two places where your brother might be, and my gut tells me the right one's Camp Pendleton."

"Why? You know something else you didn't tell us?"

"No," Danny shook his head, a small smile on his face. "But I know your brother, Mary, and I know him well. If he left Oahu right when he knew you were coming, he must have stumbled onto something that told him he needed to be in California."

Her eyes widened a bit and she cocked her head in thought. "So he went to my place as a sort of base of operations or whatever."

"I think so," Danny agreed. "He had to have found a piece of information that clued him in to something being wrong. Something that he didn't feel he could tell any of us, including his own sister."

"Yeah, well, he's been like that since Mom died."

"I know," Danny said softly, laying a hand gently on her arm. "Don't forget, I work with him day in and day out."

"Yeah, you know, you probably know my brother better than I do."

Danny half-shrugged. "Point is, he hopped a plane to LA based on whatever it is he found out. That tells me the epicenter for this particular earthquake isn't anywhere near Hawaii at all. But somehow, I think it ties _back_ to Hawaii all the same."

"So we're going back to LA then." It wasn't a question, and as much as Danny wanted desperately to keep his partner's sister safe from harm, he knew damn well he couldn't guarantee that if he left her here.

"Yeah, I think we probably are," he said.

"Danny!" came Kono's voice from the bullpen. It was urgent and clipped and Danny knew that meant she and Chin had hit paydirt.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

Danny still could not believe what they'd discovered – the same thing he knew Steve had discovered – about the McGarrett family. When Wo Fat had told Steve not to check too hard into his family's past because he wouldn't like what he found? Yeah. Understatement of the year, in Danny's not-so-humble opinion. What Wo Fat had to do with it, Danny simply refused to think about yet.

Because here and now, he and the team had bigger things to worry about than Steve's parentage and the far-too-many questions there still were about that. That Steve's birth certificate wasn't authentic was only the beginning of it, as Kono had found. And Chin had pinpointed the precise person in the exact cold case file that Danny knew had been the impetus for his partner to go to Los Angeles without…as per usual…backup.

Against Danny's better judgment, Mary Ann McGarrett was plastered to his side as they crouched behind the row of doctors' and nurses' and who-knew-what-other-staffs' vehicles in the employee parking lot outside the Naval Hospital in Oceanside, California. Chin was on her other side while Kono was behind her to watch all their backs.

Danny could only imagine the shit Steve would give him if he knew they'd brought his little sister – well, under the circumstances – Christ, this was getting circuitous but yeah, he'd still think of her as Steve's sister - on an op like this where the chances of success were pretty much nil. He flashed back to the sight of Steve hugging and holding Mary after he'd pulled her out of the trunk.

The relief and love on his face had spoken volumes, and the fact that he'd sent her back to LA after all was said and done, mirroring his father's actions all those years ago, was what told Danny and their teammates the most. Even now, even though Danny knew McGarrett was aware Mary wasn't actually a blood relative anymore than her murdered parents were his blood relatives, he would still care.

And there'd be hell to pay if something happened to Mary in Steve's absence…which, all things considered, the way Steve the SEAL's mind worked, meant he'd trusted Five-0 to take care of said sister during his absence. Either that, or Steve had suddenly stopped caring altogether with the lead he'd gone to investigate.

And that right there, Danny refused to believe. Steve was many things, not the least of which was full of emotion that he didn't really hide altogether that well – not from Danny, anyway. He knew Steve would still love Mary because he'd spent her whole life loving her already. Yeah, so there was the whole 'McGarrett's going to kick my ass if any harm comes to her' aspect of things and yet, what did Danny do? Involve said sister in the most dangerous mission he himself, a trained professional, had ever undertaken. He rolled his eyes at his own stupidity and was surprised when Mary's shoulder jostled his. He turned to look at her and she grinned.

"Stop beating yourself up," she said. "I can be a real pain-in-the-ass when I want to be. You couldn't have kept me away from here if you'd handcuffed me to a chair."

He shook his head. "Steve will kill me."

The smile disappeared from Mary's face. "If he's enough of himself to want to kill you once we get him out of there, I'll make sure he doesn't, okay?"

Kono snorted. "Like he'll listen to anyone where you're concerned."

Mary turned and looked at her. "He is kind of overprotective, I guess."

"With good reason," Chin interjected. "You tend to get kidnapped when you're in Hawaii."

"Well, we're not in Hawaii now, are we?" she countered cheekily and Danny had to chuckle.

* * *

><p>As it turned out, Danny was really goddamn glad he'd let Mary Ann come along after all. Her quick thinking and street smarts and some sort of contacts she wouldn't tell him about got them all scrubs and fake IDs and damn, he <em>so<em> did not want to know how she'd managed all of that in the space of an hour. Not like she was about to divulge her secret, but she looked awfully smug.

So here they were: three Hawaiians, a Jersey native and as much firepower as they could each carry hidden beneath scrubs. Even Mary was packing because, "Steve isn't the only one Dad taught to shoot, you know."

Thing was, the Naval Hospital was effing huge. The team, and Mary was part of that word at the moment, had agreed that if Steve was anywhere, it'd be somewhere without a lot of foot traffic and no 'normal' patients or 'regular' doctors and nurses. Mary suggested the basement. Kono suggested the top floor of the building. Danny and Chin couldn't decide which was the better suggestion, so as per usual they split up. Chin went with his partner and cousin, while Danny took the only McGarrett available.

He had to fight to keep from thinking about McGarrett not being a McGarrett, so instead Danny thought that well, there was one good thing about having the female one around, at least, and that was no cricks in the neck from just trying to have a normal conversation. At five-foot-two, Mary Ann was at least someone in Danny's life that he actually had to look down slightly to talk to. Hey, it's the little things.

Danny felt tiredness start creeping over him and fought it tooth and nail as he and Mary boarded a service elevator. She jabbed the B button and hauled out what looked like a small cannon. Mary checked the clip of the weapon, then thumbed the safety off as Danny did the same to his own gun.

"You handle that pretty well. Why didn't you become a cop like your dad?" Danny asked as the elevator rumbled downward.

Mary shrugged and shot him a smirk. "I thought our family had enough upstanding citizens as it was," she replied and Danny just shook his head.

The elevator doors opened with a soft _bing_ and Danny peered right while Mary slid out left. The hallway was clear.

"We should split up," she suggested and Danny raised his eyebrows.

"Over my dead body," he whispered. "Bad enough you're here at all. Wielding a weapon, no less."

He took off down the hall quickly and felt Mary's presence right behind him. The first hallway intersection they came to, Mary checked left and Danny checked right. Empty. Second one was the same. Then they hit the end of the hall and both looked up and down it.

"This is going to take a hundred years to search," Mary whispered with a frown.

"Shit," was Danny's eloquent response.

A loud shout from the hallway to their right caused Danny to whip an arm out and haul Mary back against the main hall's wall with him. "Shhh," he said when she opened her mouth to speak.

There was another shout and then a splintering sound. Danny peeked around the corner to find a broken door halfway down the hall and a man around sixty years old in a white lab coat crumpled to the floor.

Danny pulled his phone from his pocket and texted Chin. "bsmt, hall rt," it said. Less than five seconds later, Chin's return text of "OTW" came back.

"What's that mean?" Mary asked, peering at the iPhone's screen.

"On the way," Danny whispered, pocketing the phone again. "Calling for backup, something your brother," and he almost choked on the word, "doesn't do well." She grimaced as Danny peeked around again. Then there was a loud roar that made his blood run cold. "Christ," he breathed.

"What was that?" Mary asked, face pale and eyes gone wide.

"That was Steve. He's hulked out again," Danny replied, willing his hands to stop shaking. "I'd know that sound anywhere."

"Shit," she whispered, peeking around Danny's shoulder. Then suddenly a familiar person came flying back through the broken door, followed by a man in fatigues. A shot rang out. "No!" Mary yelled and Danny cursed as he stepped into the soldier's line of sight.

"Tamara!" Danny barked at the man now slumped on the floor next to the older lab-coated man. A pool of blood had begun to grow. "Damn you!" Danny yelled at the man now pointing his gun at them.

"The Admiral knew you'd show," the man growled. "I get to be the one who gets rid of the only McGarrett left now."

Danny shook his head, both his and Mary's weapons leveled at the soldier. "Just try it," he said evenly, and pulled the nastiest face he could muster. He was satisfied when the man swallowed hard.

"You don't seem surprised. So you know that he's not a McGarrett after all," the soldier said, barking out a laugh. "Well, _she_ is, and a certain someone's had enough of that family."

"He may not be my brother by blood," Mary Ann ground out, "but he's my brother in every way that counts and if you don't put that gun down, you won't live to collect whatever payment you're getting for this shit."

Danny grinned. "I'd listen to the lady. She's mad."

"Fuck you," the military guy said.

Mary rushed forward. Danny felt a pang of fear, but her distraction worked and he fired two rounds into the guy's head, sending him flying backward just as something really big, really green and really, _really_ angry barreled out of the room and knocked the guy's falling dead body into the wall.

Skidding to a halt and screeching at the top of her lungs, Mary dropped her gun in shock and fear at the creature before her. Danny holstered his weapon and walked forward slowly, hands out in front of him.

"Mary," Danny whispered, willing her to remain calm.

"Is that…is he…?"

"Yeah," Danny nodded, noting the green-tinged tattoos on the arms and the eyes he'd know anywhere. "That's him."

"Christ, I didn't believe it."

"Steve?" Danny said, moving past Mary Ann and closer to big green Steve.

There it was again, the change in his face, just like last time. He stopped and cocked his head like a puppy, looking first at Danny, then allowing his eyes to flick to Mary Ann and back to Danny.

"It's me, Steve, remember last time? You carried me to the ocean, do you remember the first time you morphed?"

Hulk Steve took a tentative step forward, then clutched his head and roared, falling to his knees.

"He's in pain!" Mary cried, moving forward in spite of her fear. "Do something, Danny!"

Danny bit his lip and moved right up into green Steve's space. He knelt on the floor in front of him, gasping when the oversized hands reached out and clutched at his shirt. He steadied himself with his hands on the gigantic forearms and ducked his head to catch the familiar hazel eyes.

"Steve," he said softly, squeezing his friend's arms lightly. "What is it, are you hurt?"

Green Steve looked into his eyes and then threw his head back and let out a howl that sounded like that of a wounded animal. Then he began to shake, making Danny's teeth chatter as he held on tight. The front of Danny's shirt ripped in the fierce grip and scrabbling fingernails of the creature as Steve went all the way to the floor, now convulsing uncontrollably.

Danny wrenched the big, green fingers away from his shirt but the creature's hands next engulfed Danny's. He shot a pleading look at Mary Ann, who hesitated, then moved forward and pulled her brother's head into her lap. She began stroking the long, coarse, greenish, wavy hair as tears rolled down her face.

A full minute later, Steve stilled and then his skin began to bubble like something was moving beneath it. Mary watched in horror, Danny feeling like he was having déjà vu, as a glow surrounded Steve's body and slowly he began to shrink and morph back into himself right before their eyes.

"Jesus," Mary breathed, trying valiantly to hold back her sobs but failing miserably.

When at last the change was done, Danny held two white human-sized hands in his and watched as Steve's eyelids blinked open.

"Danny?" he croaked, and Danny heard footfalls behind them as Steve's eyes moved to his sister's face. "Mary?"

"Danny, what the hell?" Kono said as she and Chin stopped behind them.

"He was…I don't…" Mary looked up at them. "It's true. He was…the Hulk."

Chin's and Kono's eyes widened as Steve, still with Danny's hands held tightly, struggled to sit up. They all helped until he was on his feet, looking like he was about to pass out.

"Gotta…get out…" Steve rasped, leaning heavily on Danny to his right and Chin to his left.

"We're getting you out now."

"Tamara," Steve choked, eyes riveted to his friend's body at their feet.

"What was he doing here?" Chin asked. "We were supposed to all come in together."

"He fixed me," Steve whispered. "He reversed it with that doctor there."

Their eyes moved to the dead sixty-something doctor under Tamara's body.

"How?" Kono asked.

"I don't know, but the doctor told me I'd change one more time and then it would never happen again."

Steve sagged heavily like that one sentence had sapped every ounce of resolve and energy left in his reserves. Mary ran into the room Steve had been in, and emerged with a thumb drive and a gurney. They loaded Steve onto it, settled their scrubs and fake IDs into place, and covered Steve with a couple blankets Kono had also gotten from the room.

"I got a bad feeling about this," Mary said as they headed back toward the service elevator.

"I know what you mean," Kono said with a nod as she palmed her weapon. "This is just way too easy."

Danny, one of his hands still held tightly by his partner, met Chin's eyes over the gurney. "Bring the SUV around," he said. "Take Mary Ann with you."

"You got it, _brah_," Chin replied. He shot a look at his cousin, probably telling her about ten different things in the space of two seconds, Danny thought.

Then Chin grabbed Mary Ann's hand and raced back to the elevator. Kono and Danny watched as they entered and Danny thought maybe, just maybe, they _would_ get away with kidnapping Steve away from the Navy after all.

In retrospect, he should've known better.


	9. Chapter 9

_Author's Note: I apologize for the delay in posting this next chapter. RL seriously got in the way._

**CHAPTER NINE**

It seemed like only a split-second after hearing the soft _bing_ telling him Chin and Mary were on their way to safety that the sound repeated again. For a moment he was angry, thinking the two had disobeyed orders and were returning to them for some reason. In the next moment he felt fear grip his heart because there were the sounds of multiple pairs of boots, the clinks of heavy weaponry being cocked and no other sound at all.

He held up a hand when Kono started pushing Steve on the gurney toward the hall intersection. She stopped, eyes wide and trained on his hand. Danny peeked around the corner only to have his worst fears confirmed.

It was a goddamned SEAL team.

_Holy Christ._

Danny's hand started flapping frantically backwards, his footsteps carrying him the same way. "Get him into that room," he whispered fiercely. "Do whatever it takes to get him on his feet!"

Kono nodded and had the gurney halfway back into the room before Danny had even finished speaking.

Danny crept forward and slowly moved his head so one eye could see around the corner. The Team Leader was issuing hand-signal commands to four other men. All four under his command nodded and went their separate ways, each taking the nearest corridor.

One man was headed Danny's way.

He jerked himself back around the corner, flattened himself up against the wall and felt sweat break out all over him. No, he didn't know precisely what Steve had done in his years as an active SEAL, but he knew full-well the _types_ of things SEALs did, and had witnessed on way too many occasions to count how much Steve knew about seemingly _everything_, and what he would do to accomplish the mission.

Danny had little doubt this SEAL team's mission was to secure Steve. Alive or dead, he didn't know. That meant he and Kono were nothing but liabilities, and Chin and Mary too. He prayed they got out of harm's way, that they'd escaped the notice of this group of trained killers.

_Shit_.

Peeking around the corner again, Danny knew he had precious few seconds before the SEAL would reach the corner. He backed down the hall and slid into the room where Kono actually had Steve on his feet, somehow, Christ, she needed a raise. He was, however, almost completely unconscious still, flagging so badly she was supporting most of his weight.

No easy feat but she was surprisingly strong.

Danny's eyes met hers, and he hoped like hell his look told her a shitstorm was about to break loose. Apparently it did, because her hands tightened in the hospital gown she'd been able to hastily wrap Steve in, and she nodded once.

Danny cocked his gun as he saw the red laser beam from the SEAL's weapon pass across the doorway. That meant the guy had just come around the corner.

_One…two…three!_

Danny stepped out of the doorway, gun leveled right at the SEAL's face.

"Where is Lieutenant Commander McGarrett?" the SEAL barked, leveling his weapon at Danny's chest.

"You tell me, asshole!" Danny spat. "You're the ones who moved him!"

The SEAL seemed to consider this for a moment, then narrowed his eyes. "Location of McGarrett," he ground out, and Danny was ever so proud of _not_ flinching.

"I told you, I don't _know_. You think I'd be standing here waiting for you to get me in your sights if I had him?"

"What's in the room?"

"Medical equipment. What's usually in a hospital room?"

Danny was playing for time. They needed Steve way more alert than he was now. For a handful of seconds, Danny found himself hoping Steve would hulk out again. Talk about something that could scare even a SEAL.

"Don't get smart with me, Williams."

"Flattered you know my name." Danny peered at the front of the SEAL's tac vest, but of course there was nothing there to identify him. "Okay, I'm just going to call you Andre for now, you know, my little girl just _loved_ that seal, Andre."

Danny smirked as the SEAL scowled.

"Because I think, you know, if we're going to be chit-chatting about finding McGarrett, well, we should work together, you and me, don't you think?"

Danny did something he would never have normally done under the circumstances and turned his back on the man holding what amounted to nothing less than a small machine gun pointed straight at him. He started waving his hands in the air to make the several points he wished to make.

And if he glanced into the room briefly as he passed it, before pivoting to face the SEAL again, well, the SEAL didn't need to know that.

"What we have here is a situation where we can help each other," Danny said to the man. "See, you know about Steve's training better than I do, but I know _McGarrett_ better than _you_ do. So I'm thinking you and I, we could come to an understanding whereby-" Danny turned his back to the SEAL again, strode quickly past the room and looked in. Kono nodded once and Danny turned on heel. "Whereby you agree not to shoot him on sight, and let me do it instead," Danny finished, his gun hand weaving in the air like it was anything but deliberate.

Too bad for the SEAL, Danny _never_ did anything that wasn't deliberate.

He immediately leveled the gun and fired, barely taking aim to do it. A bullet tore through the SEAL's left hand. He cried out in agony, his gun clattering to the floor. Danny moved forward and kicked it away, keeping his weapon trained at the SEAL's chest.

"Sorry about that, buddy, but there's no way in hell you Navy bastards are getting your hands on him again."

The SEAL's right hand twitched in time with his right leg jerking at the knee. Danny's eyes widened. Steve had done that once. Seconds later, a knife that was big enough to kill a wild boar had been embedded in a suspect's sternum, saving Danny from a bullet hole to his brain.

Danny fired, hitting the SEAL's right hand. "Fucking _stop it_. I don't want to _kill_ you," he growled, backing up so he was even with the room door. "Kono!"

"Got him, Boss, but I can't keep him lucid."

"Hit his head too many times, the bastard," Danny muttered. "Get him to the stairwell behind me."

Kono, mostly dragging Steve at this point, managed to get the twenty feet from the door down to the stairwell at the end of the hall. Danny could hear the rest of his Andre SEAL's team running toward them. He took in Andre's hands cradled to his stomach, his red face, the sweat pouring off him and the tears gathering in his eyes. He knew the guy's SEAL career was probably over, and he shouldn't feel bad because the guy would've shot Steve on sight, no doubt.

Then again, Steve would've done the same in his boots. They were just doing their jobs.

"I'm sorry," Danny whispered with one last look at the SEAL as he heard the stairwell door slam. Then he was off like a shot, holstering his weapon, and banging through the door himself. Kono had Steve halfway up the first flight of stairs but she simply wasn't any match for two hundred pounds of pretty much dead weight.

There was nothing Danny could secure the door with. He looked through the small window, and saw the Team Leader and remaining three members of the team barreling toward the door. A litany of curses flew from his mouth as he turned, bounded up the steps to Kono, managed to get Steve in a fireman's carry and started hiking his feet up the steps one after the other.

Relieved, Kono shook it off and darted after him. They rounded the first floor. Kono looked out the door. "Cops," she whispered, shutting it quietly.

Slowly they made their way up the second flight of steps. It was all Danny could do to adjust Steve so his weight was more evenly distributed on his shoulder front-to-back. Danny was strong, strong as an ox, he always liked to tell people, but this? This wasn't something he was sure he could make it through if they had to keep climbing.

But he had to.

This was _Steve_.

Danny stopped, twisted a couple of times, then swung hard to his left, catching Steve's arms and readjusting him so Steve's torso was along the back of his neck, his head and arms were draped down the left side of his chest, and his legs were draped down the right. Unceremonious, but much easier to carry.

Kono had stopped at the second floor stairwell door, only to find even _more_ cops moving up and down the hall just outside it. "I texted Chin," she reported as she leapt up to the next landing. "He says there's a fire escape we can reach from the third floor."

Danny just grunted in response. Any more effort than that he couldn't make with his burden.

They rounded the final curve of the staircase. Kono was quickly at the third floor stairwell door, opening it just a crack. Then she peeked her head even further, and finally, threw the door open all the way. "Come on!" she whispered, beckoning him with her hands.

Moving sideways, Danny stepped out into the hall. Kono drew her weapon, keeping her phone at eye-level with her left hand. "This way," she said, eyes darting all around as Danny hunched further and further forward, Steve becoming heavier and heavier with each step. "Here!" Kono announced some thirty feet down, right in front of a nurse's station.

The nurses leapt to their feet, gasping, as the trio turned down a hall. Kono and Danny both spied the window at the end of it. Kono quickly texted with her left thumb and waited for it to go through. Then the sound of footfalls reached their ears.

Kono grabbed one of Steve's legs and pulled. "Faster!"

Danny was sweating bullets by this time, but his legs kept moving and even managed to pick up pace just a fraction. All he wanted to do was hurl every invective known to man in English, Italian and good old-fashioned Yiddish that was running through his mind, but at the moment his breath was in far too short supply.

"LAPD!" a man's voice shouted from behind. "Stop right there!"

"I'll cover your flank," Kono said.

"No!" Danny puffed out, feeling himself lose ground with just that utterance. "Win-dow!" he managed to grunt.

They were only ten feet from it.

"I said halt!" the officer's voice hollered.

More footfalls.

LAPD had them.

_Shit on a stick!_

Kono looked to the left, then the right. She saw it and in less than a second had broken through the glass where a fire extinguisher was secured. Grabbing it, she swung it toward the window, barely missing Steve's head as Danny turned to see what she was doing.

He yelped and tried to jump back out of the way, succeeding only in upsetting the delicate balance he'd been maintaining. Steve's legs slipped from his chest, thumping to the floor, as the sound of breaking glass filled his ears.

Danny twisted as Steve's ass hit the linoleum, still holding onto his forearms and noting with some surprise that Steve's eyes were wide open when he crouched and came face-to-face with him.

"Carry me o'er the threshzhold, Danno?" Steve slurred with a goofy smile on his face.

"Good Christ," Danny panted with a shake of his head as two LAPD officers skidded to a halt, their guns pointed at Danny and Kono, respectively.

Kono squared off with them, standing directly in front of Danny. "Get him out the window," she said. "Chin's waiting."

Danny nodded. "Come on, Superman," he said, hiking Steve up by his arms, turning so he was near the open window, and gratefully letting Chin's arms reach through, grab Steve by the waist, and pull him through.

One of the officers was about to fire. Kono fired first.

Danny felt the impact when her body flew into his as a second shot rang out.

He toppled out of the window and faceplanted onto the metal grate.

She landed square on his back as Chin hiked Steve down the fire escape ladder.

Danny twisted, noting that Kono wasn't moving, but didn't appear to have been shot. He grabbed her gun from her hand, raised it and fired, hitting the LAPD officer's right bicep through the window. The second officer soon replaced him and Danny fired again.

"At least they'll have matching wounds," he growled, pulling himself out from under Kono. He didn't even have time to check her pulse right now, just hiked her over his left shoulder, wondering why the hell he was having to carry so many teammates today, but thanking every star there was that Kono was so much lighter than Steve.

"Danny, hurry!" Chin called up.

He could hear the sounds of Chin and Mary manhandling a growling Steve into the SUV. "I need you to spot me!" Danny called down as he crawled carefully over the railing and planted his feet on the top rung of the ladder.

"I got you!" Chin called back up. "Get him in there!" he barked, presumably talking to Mary.

Danny heard and felt Chin come up beneath him.

"Go!" Chin said.

Rung by rung, Danny with Kono over his shoulder descended, with Chin moving in precise time. Chin hopped down to the pavement as sirens blared, seeming to come from all around them.

"Let her go," Chin said, and Danny released his hold on Kono.

Chin pulled her away, off Danny's shoulder. He sighed in relief even as he moved his left foot down.

They were almost there!

"Danny!" came a cry from below. Danny barely had enough time to register it as Mary Ann's voice when a shot rang out.


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER TEN**

"Danny, _no_!"

Mary Ann rushed forward, leaving Steve hanging half inside and half outside the driver's side back seat door even as Chin fought to get Steve, mostly coherent now, to help him pull Kono in there with him.

"Danny!" Steve breathed, unable to raise his voice much above a whisper, as he tugged Kono across his lap.

Chin let go of Kono and turned to find Mary Ann trying to lift Danny with her forearms under his armpits. He was unconscious and a swell of blood from his right shoulder explained why. Chin pursed his lips, bent forward and pulled Danny up with one hand around his wrist. He hiked him up over his shoulder and turned to find Steve half-leaning on the SUV's back seat with his arms outstretched.

"Danny," Steve whispered as Chin handed him over.

They heard a noise from above them on the third floor fire escape ledge, then the sounds of sirens getting closer broke through their little bubble of concern for injured friends. Chin darted into the driver's seat while Mary zipped around the front of the vehicle and slid into the front passenger seat.

The faces of three Navy SEALs peered over the side of the wrought iron platform three stories up, automatic weapons at the ready.

"Lieutenant Commander McGarrett!" one of them shouted.

Steve looked up, met the eyes of the Team Leader, then slammed his door shut. Danny was wedged between his legs with his head on his shoulder, and Steve's right arm gripped Kono's limp form to them both. Rapid-fire shots rang out, glancing off the bulletproof government-issued Chevy as Chin floored it.

Kono moaned and stirred, finally coming to enough that she pushed herself off Steve and Danny.

"Cuz!"

"Okay, Chin," she said feebly, rubbing her chest. "Vest saved my ass," she continued, looking down to find a bullet lodged in the Kevlar. Kono made quick work of getting the vest off.

Only then did she seem to notice the state of her friend and current boss. She seemed to forget all about the bruise that was rapidly forming on her chest as Steve removed Danny's button-down shirt and pressed it to the front of his shoulder - the bullet's entry point. Kono quickly stripped off the outer of the two tank tops she was wearing, balled it up and handed it to Steve. He packed it against the exit wound – the back of Danny's right shoulder – and pressed as hard as he could to sandwich the hole.

"He needs an ER," Mary stated, eyes flicking around to the others.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Steve asked so softly they could barely hear it over the constant squealing of the SUV tires every time Chin made turns to try and lose the Oceanside PD, LAPD and handful of unmarked cars and SUVs following them.

"Saving your ass," Mary retorted. She watched Kono's face contort in pain as she coughed, rubbing a hand over her sternum. She watched her brother's face as he stared at where blood was starting to seep through the balled-up shirts onto his fingers.

Mary knew Steve wasn't her brother by blood, but that kind of blood didn't seem to matter anymore. Because Steve _was_ a brother. To _all_ of them.

She smiled at him. He just looked at her. "You know."

"Yeah, _brah_," Chin said from the front seat even as he took a sharp left that threw Mary into the passenger door.

Kono pushed against Steve and Danny, her legs wedged against her own door, to try and keep them from falling on her. "We know your birth certificate was fake."

"What did you find, Steve?" Mary Ann asked, righting herself in the seat. "What the hell did you think, coming here on your own was somehow going to spare us? Do you know what the hell they _did_ to you?"

"I know they experimented on me," Steve said, his voice low, grunting as he tried to increase pressure on Danny's bullet wound. "I was briefed by top brass as soon as I was conscious." He sighed. "I know that doctor that was with Tamara, he brought him specifically to try and reverse the effects of the mitochondrial DNA replacement, but a Naval officer came in when they were administering some kind of serum, and killed them both when I…you know…started to change."

"I thought Tamara was trying to help us," Chin said.

"He thought the best way he could help was by fixing me," Steve said with a sad shrug.

"But why did they experiment on _you_?" Kono asked. "And who are you parents if not the McGarretts?"

"I don't know why me, Kono. But John _is_ my father, so I _am_ a McGarrett."

"You're my…_half_-brother?" Mary asked.

Steve nodded.

Chin looked into the rearview mirror and caught Steve's eyes. "So you have a different mother."

Steve nodded again and looked down to where Danny's head lolled on his shoulder. He seemed to shrink, folding his persona inward, or folding it into Danny somehow, like he could crawl inside what made Danny's parentage so clear and easy and hide from his own.

"Who's your mother, if it's not Mom?" Mary Ann asked, voice barely above a whisper.

Steve took a deep breath, looked up and met her eyes. "Governor Jameson," he said, then closed his eyes and laid his head on Danny's.

They were stunned into silence.

* * *

><p>Danny swallowed once, and then twice. He couldn't get any spit to form, but tried to speak anyway. It came out as nothing more than a croak. Suddenly something very cold touched his lips, and he quickly realized it was an ice chip. He parted his lips and sucked greedily until it had completely melted, taking a second one when it was offered. Whoever was helping him hadn't yet spoken, so he forced his eyelids open just enough that he could see.<p>

What…or rather, who…he saw, made his eyes snap wide open on their own.

"Steve," Danny rasped, hand reaching out to grasp Steve's forearm as his friend dug into the cup for another ice chip.

Steve smiled, meeting his eyes only briefly before looking at the ice chip cup like it held the secrets of the universe. He didn't speak or meet Danny's eyes when he offered him another ice chip, which Danny accepted, quietly sucking it into his mouth while studying his partner's face.

When Steve reached for a fourth chip, Danny squeezed the forearm he still hadn't let go of. "No," he said, shaking his head carefully.

A burning pain in his right shoulder made him wince, but he shook Steve's arm with determination. "Look at me."

He finally did. "Danny, I—"

"We need to talk."

Steve bit his lip and nodded. "Let me get the doctor first, and tell the others you're awake."

"Okay," Danny said. "Where are we, anyway, that we're not under arrest?"

"Oh, we _are_ under arrest," Steve said. "But Mary Ann knows the Riverside County Sheriff so we're getting off easier than we would."

Danny grew alarmed. "Did he notify LAPD or Oceanside or the Navy or—"

"No, Danny. She _knows_ knows him. As in, they had a thing at one point."

"A thing," Danny repeated with a frown.

"A thing," Steve nodded. "Be right back."

"A thing," Danny said again into the now-empty room. "Huh."

* * *

><p>After all the poking and prodding and the delivery of increased pain medications via IV that Danny went through over the next half-an-hour, he unceremoniously conked out just as Kono, Chin and Mary Ann came through the door to say hello.<p>

Steve put a finger to his lips and watched as Mary Ann approached first. She smiled down at Danny almost wistfully, he thought, and smoothed an errant lock of hair back from his forehead. Steve saw the delicate movement of her fingers and noted something in her face that, for just a fraction of a second, made his chest feel like it was being squeezed. But the feeling was gone almost as quickly as it came.

Then Kono approached. She leaned down and kissed Danny's forehead. When Chin came to stand next to her, he simply squeezed Danny's shoulder.

"You guys get some sleep," Steve said to the three of them. "I'll stand watch tonight."

"You've got to sleep too, big brother," Mary countered. "Just because you can, you know," she continued, flapping a hand at him like that explained everything, "doesn't mean you don't need to rest."

Chin raised an eyebrow.

"Listen," Steve said, "according to what Tamara and that doctor of his said, I won't…what's Danny call it?...'hulk out' anymore, so I'm perfectly safe being left alone with—"

"Whoa, _brah_, nobody's thinking you're not safe to be left with Danny, even in your hulked out form. Remember, he's been with you twice now when it's happened and you didn't hurt him."

"That's right," Mary piped up. "I saw the second time. You clung to him like a piece of plastic wrap."

"Thank you for the mental image," Steve snarked, squeezing his thumb and forefinger into his eyes. "I am staying here tonight. End of discussion."

"Well, then, so am I," Mary announced, earning a deep scowl from Steve. "Hey, since I know you're only my half-brother now, you only get half a say."

Kono snickered and Chin grinned. Steve's scowl deepened, then relaxed as he smiled fondly at her. "You're still a pain-in-the-ass."

"That's what I told Danny," she said, darting her eyes over to his sleeping form.

Steve gave Chin a questioning look. Chin shrugged. Kono was too busy eyeing Mary to pay attention to the boys.

"All right," Chin finally said. "Kono and I'll be at the Holiday Inn Express. We've got two adjacent rooms, so if you two need to crash, just give us a call, okay?"

"You got it, _braddah_," Steve said. "Thanks. To both of you."

"Where else would we be, Boss?" Kono asked with a grin, a wink and an air-jab toward his bicep.

Chin hung behind and got close enough to speak softly into Steve's ear. "Chatter's got you AWOL, Steve."

The SEAL closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them and nodded. "Understood."

The cousins left Steve and Mary alone and the waning afternoon light cast shadows over their faces and in the corners of Danny's room. They both silently stared at the sleeping man on the bed, both in awe of different things about him, both unsure what to say to one another with or without Danny in the room.

It never took long for Mary Ann to break silences, though.

"So how'd you figure all this out?" she asked, perched on the edge of a typically vinyl hard chair with a strange pastel green and rose pink pattern on it.

Steve leaned against the windows, never very far from Danny's bed. He crossed his arms over his chest and seemed to focus on where the point of Danny's right toes tented the white hospital blanket covering him. It took a few minutes, but Mary knew her brother, and she knew he had to be allowed to start speaking on his terms.

"It was one of the cold case files," he said. "None of this really had anything to do with it, other than I wanted to check the birth records of one of the witnesses in the case. His name seemed off to me, so I contacted Queens to get my hands on his birth certificate."

"Why'd his name seem off?"

"It was a Korean surname, Ga, with a Mandarin given name, Jie-ou."

"Christ, how the hell can you tell the difference?"

Steve grinned for the first time since they'd arrived at the hospital. "I've been around."

"No doubt," she mumbled, then looked at him thoughtfully from her perch. "So you called up Queens to check his birth certificate. How'd you connect that to _your_ birth certificate?"

Steve took a deep breath. "The records department misunderstood my request. Can you believe that?"

"Wait, you mean they thought you were calling for a copy of _your_ birth certificate?"

"Yeah, I just gave them my name for ID purposes, told them I was the head of Five-0 and they put me on hold. They said they had emailed me a copy of the birth certificate, and it arrived in my inbox just as I was telling them no, I wanted Ga's, not mine."

"So you opened it and saw…what?"

Steve sighed. "The State Seal," he said. "They started using the raised State Seal in the early seventies, so by the time I was born, and then you, our certificates would've still been typed with typewriters, but they would've been imprinted with the State Seal. Even in digital format you can see the outline of the seal, though you can't tell whether it's the actual raised one or a stamp sometimes."

"The copy you got didn't have the seal."

"Nope," Steve confirmed. "So I checked into it. Right before you called to remind me you were coming in on the redeye, I managed to get hold of the daughter of one of the nurses who attended my birth. She's a nurse at Queens, too, followed in her mom's footsteps."

Mary Ann nodded, listening with rapt attention.

"Her mom's not in the greatest health, but she managed to ask her if she remembered a baby McGarrett in '76."

"And she did after all this time?"

"She did, and you know why?"

Mary Ann shook her head.

"Because, she said, the baby wasn't born to _Leeanne_ McGarrett, but _John_ McGarrett was in the room. Scandalous, she told her daughter, but she, the other attending nurse and the doctor who delivered me were forbidden from telling anyone about it."

"Dad was there when you were born to another _woman_?"

Steve nodded. "He cheated on Mom, Mare. With the goddamn _governor_."

"You still call her Mom."

"Well, she raised me," Steve said, pushing off the wall with his butt. "At least she didn't have me and then give me up." Steve whirled, wishing he could pound on something but not wanting to wake Danny. Instead he balled his hands into fists, doubled over and hit his own thighs once each. "Dammit, Mary, the woman who wanted me to run her goddamn task force is my goddamn _mother_. She _knew_, she…_shit_!"

"Hey, hey, Super SEAL," came a soft voice from the bed.

Mary and Steve jerked their heads up, each moving quickly to opposite sides of the bed.

"I'm sorry, Danny," Steve said. The fact that his eyes were full of unshed tears wasn't lost on his partner.

"No, you don't get to be sorry about anything," Danny said, taking his hand and squeezing it. He was surprised when Mary took his other hand and held it tight. He smiled tiredly at her. "Thanks for helping out so much, kiddo."

"Hey, who you calling kiddo, I'm not _that_ much younger than you!"

Danny chuckled and was relieved to see Steve smile. He squeezed Steve's fingers again. "I heard all that, so at least now I know." He paused and looked at Mary Ann, then back to Steve. "What's the Navy's next steps? I heard Chin tell you they've labeled you AWOL."

"They're going to use intel to track me. And if they find me with you, Danny, with _any_ of you, you'll only be liabilities in their eyes." He made sure he had Danny's full attention. "_Expendable_ liabilities."

"But you know how they think, right?" Mary asked. "How they operate. You've had the same training, so you'll be able to stay a step ahead."

"Theoretically, yes," Steve confirmed. "But only if I'm alone can I be sure to stay a step ahead of them."

"Ho, oh, no, no, no way, Partner," Danny said, tugging on Steve's hand for emphasis. "No way in _hell_ are you going out there on your own."

"Danny, this isn't up for negotiation!" Steve hissed. "I should've left as soon as we got you to this hospital!"

"Listen," Danny said, calmer than he would normally have been thanks to the painkillers in his system, "you, Steve McGarrett, you went off half-cocked on your own to Los Angeles, and what happened, huh? What happened? You didn't even tell us _why_ you went to LA, let alone what caused you to hulk out at Mary's apartment, but that's what happened and if I hadn't been there, you could've _died_!"

Steve turned away, but Danny wasn't letting go of his hand. He blinked rapidly, looking up at the ceiling trying to compose himself. Finally, his voice barely above a whisper, he spoke. "By the time you were already in the air, Mary, I had been around and around the circuits on this whole thing. Trying to find out why Jameson would've had my birth certificate changed to show Leeanne as my mother, why Dad never told me."

"You found something that led you to LA," Mary stated.

Steve turned to meet her eyes. "Yes. Back in 1975, Dad acted as security escort for Pat Jameson to attend a summit on housing developments that involved lining up hefty investors for land deals throughout the state of Hawaii, every island. She was fresh out of college and already had her sights on politics."

"So Dad went to LA with the governor."

"Way before she was the governor, yes," Steve nodded. "The only thing is, she didn't go alone."

"No, of course she didn't," Danny said with a frown. "You just told us your dad went with her."

"As security escort, right," Steve said. "Because she was already making huge waves in the political pool. But there was someone else with her, someone she was working with on the land development contracts." Steve closed his eyes again, as though he could just will away what was about to come crashing down around them.

"Land development," Danny said, looking up at him with huge, round eyes. When Steve opened his eyes and their gazes met, Danny shook his head, jaw dropping. "No."

"I'm afraid so, Danny," Steve said quietly, squeezing his friend's hand. "Jameson attended the summit with Charles Stuart."

"Oh, my _God_," Danny breathed, squeezing both Steve's and Mary's hands so tight that Mary winced.

"What…who is Charles Stuart?" she gritted out, trying to pull her hand away.

Steve looked up at her. "Danny's ex-wife, Rachel, the mother of his daughter, Grace? Charles Stuart is her father."

"He's been in worldwide land development as long as I can remember, it's how she met her current husband, Step-Stan," Danny explained, then realized how hard he was holding Mary's hand and released it. "Sorry."

She grinned, pulled her hand away and shook it melodramatically. "Some grip you got there, cop. Police brutality."

In spite of himself, Danny managed a small smile in response. Then his face turned serious as he looked back up at McGarrett. "It sounds like every goddamn thing's been a setup."

"_Now_ do you see why I went alone to LA?" Steve asked. "I got the name of a guy who worked security at the coliseum where the summit was held. I met with him, and he told me there was another guy at the summit who seemed to be very chummy with my dad, Jameson and Stuart."

"He remembered a summit from thirty-five years ago?" Mary asked incredulously.

Steve nodded. "And with good reason. He said it was an odd group he had to keep an eye on all three days because there'd been threats against one of their party, an Asian man."

"Jesus Christ," Danny breathed.

Steve met his partner's eyes. "I cycled through a few photos I had on my phone and he identified him."

Danny waited expectantly.

"It was Wo Fat, Danny," Steve said, looking away. Danny squeezed his eyes shut in disbelief as Steve continued. "As soon as I heard that, I started thinking this sounds like the biggest conspiracy I've ever heard of. I wanted to gather as much information as I could before I came back to Hawaii and started leveling accusations across the board." He smiled wryly. "I was trying to get evidence."

Danny chuckled, but there was no mirth in it. "Fuck, Steve. What about Grace?"

"I never got a chance to find out how deep Stan was in this, or if he was just a happenstance. I don't have any idea if Rachel knows anything about the fact that her father knew mine, or the governor." Steve looked down to where Danny's hand still held his tightly. "My guess is I was conceived on that trip to LA – the timing's about right, it was just before Christmas, for me being born in August of '76."

"So this could go all the way back to…" Danny's voice trailed off. For a moment he looked like he was in pain. "Steve, what the hell do I have to do with all this? If it goes back to Rachel's father, you can't tell me Rachel hooking up with me, and then Stan, and then dragging us all to Hawaii was—"

Steve held a finger up. "We don't know for _sure_, Danny." At the skeptical look on Danny's face, he added, "But yeah, it does seem like a well-conducted orchestra."

"Jesus Christ, do you know what you're _saying_?" Mary asked.

"Unfortunately," Steve nodded. "And I probably would've had a lot more answers by now if I hadn't been attacked after meeting with the retired security guy who ID'd Wo Fat."

"Attacked?" Danny practically screeched as he jerked upright, then groaned in pain from having jostled his shoulder too much.

Steve eased him back into the bed, patting his hand in what he hoped was a soothing manner. "I decided to use Mary's place as a base of operations until I could gather enough intel to return to Hawaii and confront the governor," he explained. "It was in Mary's apartment parking lot that someone came at me from between two parked cars, jabbed something into my neck, and ran off. I passed out, and when I came to, I'd…" He faltered. "I'd started to change for the first time."

"So that had pretty much just happened just hours before I got to the apartment?" Danny asked.

Steve nodded. "I was out about ninety minutes. When I realized something really fucked up was happening, I booked it into Mary's apartment. That first change took hours. I saw LAPD sniffing around, so I got up into a crawlspace in her bedroom closet and had just come down when you showed up," he finished.

"So maybe whatever they jabbed into your neck is why your hulk-out finally happened. Maybe there was some trigger or something in whatever they gave you?" Danny posited.

"I'm guessing they thought it would kill me, or give them a legitimate reason to get their hands on me, like they did."

"To get rid of you because you'd stumbled onto the truth," Mary said.

Steve nodded, and then they were all quiet, trying to piece together what Steve had told them. What it meant to each of them. What it meant to Grace, to Rachel. To Five-0. Their minds were spinning.

Danny finally broke the silence. "Okay, so since I've already made it clear you're not going out there alone," he said, making sure he had Steve's attention by tugging on his hand, "the question is, what now?"

"Now?" Steve repeated, pulling his hand out of Danny's and pacing the room a couple times. He stopped and looked at his sister, then his partner. He scrubbed a hand down his face and finally gave them an answer. "All right. Two things. First, I want to know why the hell Governor Jameson never told me who she is to me, and I have a feeling that's got something to do with both Stuart and Wo Fat. I think that'll lead us to whatever the hell it is that's going on with _all _of us."

Danny nodded in agreement.

"And the other thing?" Mary asked.

"I need to know if that doctor of Tamara's really did fix me. If I'll ever…'hulk out'…again." He took a deep breath. "If I'm ever going to put the people I love in danger again."

He finished that statement with his eyes glued to Danny's. It wasn't lost on him that his sister had taken hold of Danny's hand again.


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

In the darkness of three in the morning, all was quiet in a second-floor hospital room save the steady beeps that told of a regular heartbeat and even steadier snores that spoke of sleeping occupants.

One slept heavily, weighed down by painkillers, antibiotics and far too much physical and emotional stress.

One slept fitfully, weighed down by far too much physical and emotional stress and way too much upheaval that had broken all the tenements of faith and belief in knowledge and truths that had kept him going for so long.

One slept quietly, long hair falling over a placid face while inside, in the place where dreams seem so real, only the twitch of her leg and hand told of the horrors she was seeing.

The atmosphere in the room was unaware of vehicles arriving in the parking lot. It didn't whisper to the three people that many sets of feet were running toward every exit of the hospital. It didn't think to wake them when the feet started pounding up staircases even as elevators were shut down and emergency vehicles surrounded the large building.

The one who slept heavily, slept on.

The one who slept fitfully jolted awake.

The one who slept quietly snuffled and blearily opened her eyes.

"Mare," Steve whispered, eyes wide. He cocked his head. "Mare!"

"What, Steve, what is it?"

He rose to his feet and crept to the nearest of the room's side-by-side windows. He didn't have to say anything for his sister to realize they were in trouble.

Steve pulled Danny's cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Chin. "The building's surrounded," he said.

Chin barked for Kono and said he'd call back.

Mary Ann joined Steve at the window and wrapped her hands around his arm. "What the hell are we going to do?"

Steve set his jaw. "Nothing. I'll surrender myself."

"What?" Mary looked up at him, eyes wide. "You can't, Steve, they'll _kill_ you!"

He looked down at her and his face softened as he cupped her head with one hand. "Better than them killing you and Danny."

She shook her head. "Danny wouldn't want this, Steve. You _know_ he wouldn't."

A door banging open down the hall.

Orders shouted.

Screams from nurses and orderlies and patients.

Curses from doctors.

Another door banging as a room was invaded and searched. And another.

Growing nearer.

And nearer.

Steve physically lifted Mary onto the bed with Danny. She squawked in protest, awkwardly arranging herself half along Danny's right side where his bandaged shoulder was, and half on top of his chest and stomach as she watched her brother with wide, frightened eyes.

Her brother, who had moved to stand on the side of the bed facing the door. His body was stiff as a board, his hands clenched into tight, painful fists.

Banging open, nearer.

And nearer.

Another shout.

Another command.

The door to Danny's hospital room was thrown wide open, hitting the concrete wall behind it.

Six men poured into the room, dressed in camouflage and body armor, and armed to the teeth. Steve stared them down.

"Lieutenant Commander McGarrett, put your hands up and come quietly."

"Steve?" Mary said, her voice small.

He raised his hands up next to his head. "Leave them out of this and I'll come quietly."

"Sorry, Commander, no can-do," the Team Leader replied with a shake of his head. "You're all coming with us. We've already sent another team to pick up your friends."

Steve began to tremble.

Mary noticed.

The SEAL Team Leader didn't seem to.

"I said, you leave them _out_ of this."

Six men pointed their weapons directly at Steve. He began to shake.

Mary grabbed both of Danny's hands and started to pull at them, trying like hell to wake him up.

"Commander, this will be the last time I ask nicely."

One finger squeezed a trigger ever-so-slightly. Steve whipped around, putting his back to the SEALs. He leaned forward, covering as much of Mary and Danny as he could even as Danny's head started to move and his voice started to grumble. Steve reached into the front right pocket of his jeans.

"Steve, what are you-?" Mary started to yell, but the sound was interrupted by a hail of bullets.

Bullets she felt slam into her brother's body.

"_No,__no,__no_!"

"Steve!" Danny gasped, feeling the weight press down on his chest.

"_Steve_!" Mary Ann cried, but she couldn't pull herself out from under him any more than Danny could.

Then something rumbled through both their bodies. Rumbled so loud, so hard and so deeply that it vibrated them from head to toe.

There was a growl, long and low.

There was a glow that surrounded the rigid body of their brother and friend. A glow that bled onto the white sheets and their exposed skin, making them glow a little, too, for a moment.

Then Steve lifted his head and his eyes were shining, big and round and frightened, even as his skin began to move and bubble like something beneath it was _alive_.

"Holy _shit_," Mary breathed as she looked into Steve's eyes.

"Steve," Danny whispered, barely awake and yet aware enough to know what was happening. He cupped Steve's face in both hands. "Stay focused on me, buddy, come on."

Steve opened his mouth like maybe he would speak, but he only roared into Danny's face. Hands that had grown, covered by skin that was turning green, reached up to touch Danny's. Then Steve, morphing right before their eyes, stood up straight and turned to face his attackers.

His shirt, bought by Chin while they had waited for Danny to be stitched up, ripped to shreds. Steve tore it away from his body and tossed it aside. His pants split all the way to his thighs. His feet had only been covered by socks and hospital slippers. Both were torn through, the remnants falling unnoticed to the cold linoleum floor.

Danny and Mary saw all the bullet holes in his back. Watched as bullets started popping out of him like his body was spitting them out, even as his musculature grew and grew…as he increased height by five inches…as his hair lengthened, changed color and became wavy, almost bushy.

Steve roared again even as expletives of fright and words of wonder and confusion escaped the lips of six Navy SEALs.

"Shoot him!" the Team Leader yelled.

Neither Mary nor Danny even had a chance to protest as Steve launched himself into the middle of the men.

Automatic weapons flew through the air, smacking into the wall, some going off when grabbed. Danny rolled and covered Mary with his body when she shrieked in fright.

Other weapons had their barrels twisted before being tossed aside like toys, and then _men_ started flying.

Danny cradled Mary's head in his arms, curling himself around her to provide as much of a shield as possible. Every hair on his body stood on end each time Steve roared and snarled at the SEALs.

Three of them were tossed back into the hallway like they were so much fluff. One went left, crashing into a medical cart and falling to the floor. One went right, straight into the bathroom until he hit the wall and fell unmoving into the tub.

Big, green Steve approached the Team Leader, a sneer curling his lip. The man held up his hands in surrender but Steve didn't seem to notice or care that he'd already won.

"I have to get to him," Danny panted, unfolding himself from Mary Ann and pulling the IV out of his arm. Mary popped the pulse oxygen monitor off his finger. Danny grunted in pain as he hefted himself up to a sitting position and swung his legs over the side of the bed. More footfalls could be heard in the hall. He knew they were out of time. Apparently Steve's body could heal fast enough to withstand gunshot wounds, but for how long until at last they took him out?

"Steve!" Danny ground out, Mary on her knees behind him holding onto his shoulders.

Green Steve didn't respond. He reached out and down, took hold of the SEAL Team Leader's shirt and lifted him into the air with a menacing growl.

"Steve, listen to me!"

Danny's voice had grown louder, but it still wasn't getting through.

Mary squeezed his uninjured shoulder. Danny took a deep breath against the pain and hollered, "_McGarrett_!"

Big, green Steve stopped all sound and movement. Slowly his head turned until he could see Danny and Mary. He cocked his head as if confused, then dropped the Team Leader on the floor and hurried back to the bed.

Danny held out a hand as Mary stared, still unable to believe this was _Steve_. The creature looked down at Danny's hand, then reached out and gingerly touched the white gauze covering his shoulder where bright red blood had started seeping through it.

"It's okay, Steve. Yes, I'm hurt, but it's okay," Danny said, gently taking the huge green hand between his two seemingly so-small white ones. "You have to get out of here. Do you understand me?"

Steve twisted his head like Danny was speaking in a code that he just couldn't decipher. Mary's eyes widened. "Steve, look _out_!" she cried, launching herself around Danny's right side to try and push her brother out of the way.

But Steve was faster. He gathered her in his left arm and Danny in his right, and tucked them both against his broad and massive body, hunching forward to cocoon them as the SEAL Team Leader grabbed his weapon from the floor, took aim and fired.

Steve's body took four bullets. He threw his head back, howled in pain and turned an immediate three-sixty, lashing out with one long, green, thick leg. His gigantic foot hit the Team Leader's ribcage, breaking every rib even as the force of it threw him against the wall. There was a loud crack when his head hit. He didn't move after that.

Still holding his partner and his sister close, both of them trying to help by clinging to him with their arms and legs, Steve turned and looked across the room at the two side-by-side windows. More men poured into the hospital room: Riverside County cops, Navy men, doctors. And Steve seemed to come to a decision.

Mary followed his line of sight and then ducked her head as far down as she could, shielding it between her left arm and his chest. Danny looked like he was going to throw up from being in so much pain, but he forced his arms to keep hold of Steve's neck even as he shoved his head between his own right arm and Steve's collarbone.

They heard glass shatter, and Danny got déjà vu.

They felt the weightlessness that comes with falling too far, too fast, without anything to slow you.

They felt a slight jarring as Steve landed feet-flat on the parking lot below.

And they held on for dear life as he started to run.

Nobody could reach the iPhone that rang and rang in big, green Steve's right front pocket.


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

The first time the creature stumbled, Danny and Mary both lifted their heads from the protective shelters they'd established just before Steve leapt from the hospital window and dropped two stories to the parking lot without any effort at all.

Mary's eyes met Danny's across the broad, green chest. Both could tell Steve's grip, while still unbelievably strong, was starting to loosen just a bit.

"Steve?" Mary said, looking up at his face.

His eyelids were drooping.

"I think he's getting tired," she whispered, unable to tear her eyes from the face that was still somehow her brother, but mostly unrecognizable.

Danny nodded. He was white as a sheet, the stitches in his shoulder having been torn just enough that he'd been leaking blood steadily for the hour Steve had been carrying them. And he was hurting like a motherfucker, which normally would've resulted in a cacophony of invectives spewing from his lips. But right now, there were more important things on his mind.

He wiggled a bit, said Steve's name softly, and ignored the lightning bolt of pain that jabbed from his shoulder down his arm, and radiated out through his chest when he unwound that arm from Steve's neck and tapped him on the cheek.

Steve stopped, looked down at Danny, and swayed. Slowly he loosed his hold on his burdens more and more until they were able to slip to the ground. Mary kept one hand on Steve's arm, her eyes riveted to the contrast between her pale skin and Steve's dark green. She looked up and recognized the tattoo on his left bicep, though it was muted because of his skin tone.

"Maybe you ought to sit down," Mary Ann suggested, tugging just a bit on his arm.

Steve followed her willingly enough, but reached out to grab Danny's hospital gown, which had somehow miraculously remained tied together, but which Steve just about ripped off his body when Danny didn't quite move with him.

"Hey!" Danny protested, swatting at Steve's hand with his own left, as his right arm hung painfully useless at his side.

Steve made a strange sound like a bass whimper in his throat, and turned wounded eyes on Danny. "Jesus Christ, you can still make the Kicked Puppy Dog face when you're the Hulk, are you _kidding_ me?" Danny groused.

Mary turned wide eyes on him. "Kicked Puppy Dog face?"

Danny just shook his head and laid his hand on Steve's arm. "It's okay, you big oaf, I wasn't scolding you for touching me, just, Christ, could you spare me a _little_ dignity in present company, please?" he asked, eyes darting to Mary Ann.

"Oh, please, like I've never seen what you've got."

"Not unless you were with me when I streaked through Times Square back in '94."

Mary laughed out loud. The sound startled Steve, who growled softly even as he allowed her to gently guide him down into a sitting position on a bench.

It was only then that Danny and Mary stopped and took stock of their surroundings. They were definitely in some sort of residential suburb, standing in what appeared to be a newly landscaped back yard of a house that wasn't quite finished. The lot was large, maybe about two acres square. It was covered in dry, sandy dirt, and about a dozen sickly-looking trees dotted the entirety of the plot. The parcel to the west contained a completed house, but there were no internal or external lights glowing. The plot to their east was vacant and held a good two dozen trees.

To their north, deserted. And to their south, the only road in sight. Under the light of a nearly full moon, they turned back to look at Steve, each staring as his facial structure began to change. As his muscle mass began to shrink. As his torso and legs shortened a few inches. As everything went from being the big, huge, bulked-up hulking green creature back to the swimmer, the runner, the lithe and tanned human.

"Jesus," Danny exclaimed softly, left hand resting on Steve's shoulder.

Steve ran a palm over his face, then knuckled into his eyes and rubbed vigorously before finally blinking a few times and looking first at his sister, then at his partner. "I changed again," he said, voice bruised from all the roaring he'd done. "That doctor's cure didn't work." He leaned forward, elbows on his thighs, and hung his head, scrubbing at his hair with his fingertips and then heaving a long, drawn-out sigh. "Shit," he whispered.

"Yeah, but if you hadn't, all three of us would be dead, Steve," Mary offered.

"She's right," Danny said, and Steve looked sharply up at him. "What?"

"You're in pain, I can hear it in your voice."

"Thank you, Commander Big, Green and Obvious," Danny said, but there was no venom in it. "Tore my damn stitches."

"We should get you sewed back up."

"Sure, Boy Scout, you got a needle and thread hidden under a tattoo?"

"What about that house?" Mary asked, pointing at the lot to the west. "It looks like someone lives there, but I don't think they're home."

"Breaking and entering?" Danny asked with a raised eyebrow.

Mary grinned. "Wouldn't be the first time."

Steve groaned. "I did _not_ need to know that."

"Criminal," Danny muttered to her.

She made a face and headed toward the house. "I'll just check it out," she said, jerking a thumb in the house's direction.

Danny opened his mouth to protest, but Steve shushed him. "Don't even try. You will _not_ get anywhere with her if you argue with her."

"So…like brother, like sister then, huh?"

Steve looked at him in surprise and then chuckled. "Yeah, maybe. Although I'd say you two are probably more evenly matched in that department."

"Really," Danny said, watching as Mary disappeared behind some trees.

"Earth to Danny."

"Huh?"

"That's my sister you're looking at."

"_Half_-sister."

"Thanks for reminding me. Asshole."

"Thanks for saving my life. Oaf."

Steve looked like his was offended for about two seconds, then quirked a grin at him. "Well, I think we're even up now, or maybe I'm one ahead."

"Are you kidding?" Danny asked, left hand waving in the air. "I'm at _least_ one up on you, do you have any id_ea_-?"

"Hey, loud guys!" Mary's voice called.

Steve rose to his feet and he and Danny turned toward the west.

"Get your half-naked asses over here!"

"I am _not_ half-naked," Danny said, stalking forward with what little dignity he could muster as the hospital gown fluttered around him.

"Uh…actually, Danny, you, uh…kinda are," Steve said, waving at Danny's backside.

"Well," Danny retorted, chin raised defiantly. "Now you've got something nice to look at on your walk."

Steve laughed out loud and hurried to catch up with his friend, a fresh surge of adrenaline coursing through his veins.

Only Danny could find humor in a situation so completely out of control.

* * *

><p>The house was modest, a single story in height, light beige with a light brown shingled roof, and a matching detached double garage. The front porch was a slab of concrete with four pillars holding up the porch roof. The front door was simple for Mary to breach with one of the barrettes still hanging loosely from her mess of tangled hair.<p>

Once inside, they found the home to be tidy but definitely lived-in. The living room spanned the entire front of the house but wasn't even as wide as the McGarrett living room back in Honolulu. From there they passed into a large room that doubled as dining area and kitchen. Left out of the kitchen took them into a short hall with a bathroom at the end and equal-sized bedrooms on either side.

Mary Ann moved to the bathroom to search for first aid supplies, while Danny and Steve raided the closets and dressers.

"Plaid?" Danny asked when Steve offered him a short-sleeved button-down shirt.

"Hey, we'll match," was Steve's reply. Danny rolled his eyes, noting the dark orange and navy blue squares in the shirt Steve was pulling on, in contrast to the light and dark blue pattern in his own.

"Pants?" Danny asked.

"They're a bit big around the middle for both of us," Steve said, "but I think I saw belts in the drawer."

Shortly the men had managed to get themselves mostly dressed, Steve snorting over how Danny had to roll the bottoms of the borrowed denims up three times so they wouldn't drag on the ground. Unfortunately, the shoes were too small for Steve and too big for Danny, so they just put two pairs of socks on each foot.

Danny hadn't put the shirt on yet, so when Mary Ann entered the bedroom she could see just how much blood had soaked the hospital bandage on his shoulder. She pointed toward the bed and he frowned.

"Bossy," he muttered, but went ahead and sat down anyway.

"I'm going to call Chin," Steve said.

"Won't you need this?" Mary asked, pulling Danny's iPhone from her pants pocket.

"You _picked_ his _pocket_?" Danny asked incredulously.

She just winked at him and grinned, as Steve snatched the phone from her hand, shaking his head.

"Christ, I'm glad you're on our side," Danny muttered.

Mary Ann opened the rudimentary first aid kit and started working at peeling the bandage from Danny's shoulder. "This might hurt a little," she said.

"That's what they always say right before you bite straight through your tongue."

"Need something to bite down on?" Mary asked.

Danny opened his mouth, thought the better of it and shook his head, waving a hand at her to proceed. Mary just grinned. Danny thought she'd never looked more evil.

It was a good look on her.

* * *

><p>"<em>Steve! Pehea 'oe?"<em>

"Maika'i no au, _braddah_," Steve assured him. "Really."

"_Where __are __they?__"_ he heard Kono ask.

Steve jogged out to the street, but had to go almost half a mile down the road for a street sign. "Nuevo Road," he reported. "Hang on." He put the call on hold, flipped to Danny's desktop, and was confronted with a smiling Grace.

His stomach bottomed out as the full force of what was happening really hit him. Not only was his world completely on its ear, but Danny…Danny had left Hawaii, left his daughter, to come to California for Steve. All the air whooshed out of his lungs at the realization and he staggered, barely managing to stay on his feet.

Chin. Chin and Kono were waiting for him. Quickly he thumbed open the Maps application, and told it to give him his current location. It took a few moments of 3G communication, but finally the map zeroed in on precisely where Steve was standing. He took a quick screenshot of it, flipped to the Camera Roll and opened it.

There were thirteen photos on the phone. The final one was the shot he'd taken of the map with his locator. Steve couldn't help but notice the others. There were three of Grace in various poses, all smiles and sparkling eyes. There were two of Mary Ann, two of Chin and two of Kono. There were a couple of Five-0 headquarters – both the bullpen and Steve's office – and one more.

He guessed Mary Ann must've taken it, but had no idea when, where or how. It was of Steve and Danny in the hospital room, Steve's hand curled over Danny's bicep, his head resting on Danny's thigh. He didn't recall having actually slept _on_ Danny at any point, nor had he been aware of Mary taking the phone out of his pocket and replacing it.

He knew his sister was good, but even she wasn't good enough to have done all that without his knowledge. "Chin sent it as a text to Danny," Mary said, voice startling Steve. "I saw it when I nabbed the phone from you and pulled it through."

"He was in the hospital last night?"

"Guess he and Kono stopped by, but we were all asleep and didn't hear them."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Dammit!" He'd completely gotten sidetracked. Quickly he pulled up the locator photo and sent it as an MMS to Chin. He then flipped back to the phone and took the call off hold. "Sorry, I just sent you a visual on our location."

"_Okay, __Kono __will __get __you __an __ETA __in __a __sec,__"_ Chin replied. _"__Are __you __guys __okay?__"_

Steve looked at Mary. "I think so, yeah."

"I patched Danny up, gave him a couple ibuprofen and made him lay down," she reported.

"He actually laid down for you?" Steve asked.

Mary grinned. "I'm persuasive."

Steve shook his head.

"_Okay, __Steve,__"_ came Kono's voice, _"__looks __like __we __can __get __to __you __in __twenty-three __minutes.__"_

"Got it," Steve replied. "Mary, get back there with Danny. We can't be sure someone's not going to find us."

"Well, if you keep Danny's phone on you then, _duh_," Mary retorted, then turned and started jogging back toward the house. "Besides, the only way I got him to lay down is by promising him I'd come find you and make sure you weren't hulking out again."

"Did I ever have control over any of this?" Steve asked no one.

"_She__'__s __got __a __point __about __the __phone,__"_ Chin said. _"__You __need __to __destroy __it, __not __just __ditch __it, __or __they__'__ll __use __the __same __tech __you __did __to __send __me __this __map __location __and __when __they __do, __you__'__re __SOL.__"_

"Not necessarily," Steve said, shoulders slumping.

"_Why? __What __happened?__"_ Kono asked.

"I hulked out again."

He heard Kono breathe in sharply. _"__That __cure __Tamara __was __trying __didn__'__t __work.__"_

"Not unless it happens over a period of time, no," Steve confirmed.

"_Kanapapiki!__"_ Chin swore.

"It saved our asses this time, though, that creature," Steve admitted. "I took a hail of bullets and don't even have any scars. I checked in the mirror at this house we're holed up in."

"_Holy __shit, __are __you, __like, __indestructible __now __or __something?__"_ Kono asked.

"I wish I knew. I guess since Mary Ann and Danny are still alive, I'm not going to bitch about the experiment right now, though."

"_Steve, __chatter __on __the __scanner__'__s __that __Perris __Valley__'__s __in __an __uproar __over __what __happened __at __the __hospital,__"_ Kono reported.

"_Now __that __we __know __you __hulked __out, __a __lot __of __what __they__'__re __saying __makes __sense,__"_ Chin added.

"Okay, guys, we need to somehow get ourselves back to Hawaii. Running all over California isn't going to help us now, and they're gunning for us bigtime already. We're not going to be able to stay ahead of them for long. Any ideas on transport?"

"_Is __there __anyone __in __the __Navy __you __can __still __trust?__"_ Chin asked.

Steve began walking quickly back toward the house. A smile slowly spread across his face. "There is one person," he said. "I'll catch you up when you get here."

"_You got it, brah. See you soon."_

While her number had been programmed into Steve's own cell phone, it wasn't in Danny's. But Steve didn't need a Contact list – he knew the number by heart. Quickly he dialed it, just as the house was coming into view along Nuevo Road.

"_Hello?"_

Steve couldn't help the goofy grin that plastered itself to his face when he said, "Catherine."

* * *

><p><em>Translations:<em>

_Pehea__ '__oe? = _How are you?

_Maika__'__i__no__au._ = I am fine.

_Braddah_ = Brother

_Kanapapiki!_= Sonofabitch!

_Acronyms:_

_SOL_ = Shit Outta Luck


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

Catherine's clipped response caught him off-guard, and his smile disappeared as he reached out to open the front door of the house.

"Red-blue," was all he heard before she ended the call.

He swallowed hard, staring at the phone for a moment before hurrying to the hall. He looked in the left-side bedroom, but it was empty. On the right side, Danny was lying back in the bed with his eyes closed. In front of him, the bathroom door opened and Mary emerged wearing a pair of leggings and a long tee shirt he knew she hadn't had on before.

"Best I could find in this dump," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Danny still out?"

"I think so," Steve said. "Listen, Mary, destroy the phone. Maybe drop it in the toilet tank or something, drown it."

"What's happened? Chin and Kono?"

"They're okay, they'll be here in a few."

Mary Ann peered up into his eyes. "Something else is wrong."

"Cat's being watched."

"You called her?"

He nodded. "I'm trying to get us transport back to Honolulu, but she gave me one of the codes we worked out when we first started seeing each other. It was only supposed to be used if I was deep under, but…"

"Code?"

"Red-blue," Steve said, then took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "It means Code Red, like you'd figure that means anywhere, but adding 'blue' means she can't speak freely."

"How the hell does 'blue' mean 'can't speak freely?' You are _so_ weird."

Steve raised an eyebrow. "Meaning 'blue' that I can't talk to you kind of 'blue.'"

"Oh, my God, that is _so_ sappy."

"She came up with it."

"Sure, blame it on the girl."

"Mary _Ann_!"

His sister laughed, then grabbed the phone from his hand and headed for the bathroom. "_So_ easy, after all these years."

Steve glared after her, skimmed a hand through his hair and chewed his lip. He wandered into the bedroom where Danny was asleep and sat down wearily on the edge of the bed. Mary Ann had been right, earlier in the hospital. He _did_ get tired in spite of having big, green and whatever-the-fuck-it-was inside him.

He hadn't been given much time to really think about all of this, and what it meant. He'd thought it was over after Tamara's visit at the Naval Hospital, but it wasn't. And now what? Go back to Honolulu, confront the governor and risk hulking out on her? Uncover the ties that apparently bound him and Danny together from before either was born and what, hulk out on Rachel or Step-Stan or Wo Fat?

Well, hulking out on Wo Fat would actually work for him.

Still and all, the fact that Steve couldn't control when it happened; the fact that while he hadn't yet hurt Danny or Mary, there were no guarantees he wouldn't at some point, and Jesus Christ, what about Gracie? A monster around that little girl? Not if _he_ had anything to say about it. Then there was the whole thing that while he could recall vague impressions about stuff that happened while he was in the green form, he couldn't remember anything like conversation or even how things happened.

He leaned back against the pillow and folded his hands behind his head, closing his eyes.

For example, Steve knew he'd been shot at the hospital, but didn't know how it was he'd gotten the three of them out of there. He knew the SEALs had been threatening his partner and his sister, but couldn't remember what the threats actually were. He knew he'd carried them both for a long time and had started getting tired, but he didn't remember any of the sights, smells or sounds of the path he'd taken, nor why he'd gone that way to begin with.

Worst of all, he hadn't a clue what he looked like when he was changed. Since everyone kept comparing him to the comic book Hulk, he tried to fathom himself bigger and bulkier than he was now. He tried to think of himself with green skin and wondered if he actually talked. Danny and Mary hadn't said anything about him speaking to them. In fact, neither of them had really said anything about what he was like when morphed.

But there was one thing, he thought as his eyes snapped open and he turned to look at Danny's worry-free face. One thing was always constant, and that was Danny. He felt him like an tether to who he really was, was hyper-aware of him even when he was in the midst of being whatever it was he'd become. He could hear Danny's voice speaking to him during a change, but right now didn't know what Danny ever said. It was just this sort of…calming effect, was the only way he could describe it.

Which, if you thought about it, was truly amusing. Because even on his best days, Danny wasn't what you might refer to as 'calming.'

And yet in the hospital, when Steve had been telling them everything he'd discovered, Danny had kept hold of his hand, kept making sure he anchored him so Steve could get through the whole thing. So if that wasn't calming, what was?

Maybe Danny was just acting differently toward him now because he felt sorry for Steve. Which, all things considered, would be okay except Steve was too angry about the whole mess to want anyone's pity. All he wanted was answers, but logically, he knew Danny couldn't provide those any more than he himself could at the moment.

So maybe Danny was just reverting to what he did best. Steve had noticed how Danny acted when Grace was upset, or with victims or witnesses when they weren't exactly thinking straight. This was Danny just being careful, being protective, being concerned. This was Danny _caring_.

Danny stirred and Steve sat up on the bed. Mary walked through the door, eyed Steve and shook her head. "Danny's right, you _do_ have faces," she whispered. "I wonder why I never noticed that before."

He raised an eyebrow. "Maybe because I developed them after we went our separate ways."

An abrupt laugh from the bed startled them both. "You're actually admitting to having faces," Danny said with great amusement.

"Shut up," Steve groused, but was having a tough time hiding the smile that wanted to curve his lips upward.

"Hey, I hear something," Mary said suddenly, raising a hand in the air to silence them.

They all listened.

"Vehicle," Steve said.

"Chin and Kono?" Mary asked.

"I'll check," Steve said in his clipped I'm-The-Boss tone, and was on his feet and out the bedroom door within seconds.

* * *

><p>They were all either piled on the bed or standing nearby to try and make things physically easier on Danny as they talked about what they knew to date. Kono handed out prepaid cell phones to each of them. Steve nodded his approval. He sent a quick text to Catherine, giving her a way to contact him as soon as it was safe for her to do so. It simply said 'blue-blue.'<p>

"All right, so assuming you _are_ able to arrange transport, Steve, where's the most likely place we'd be able to take off from?" Chin asked.

"Probably March Air Reserve Base. It's only about fifteen, twenty minutes west of our current position."

Kono looked around the room. "These people have any weapons?"

"I did a cursory search of the house, but nobody's checked the garage yet," Steve replied.

"Right, we're on it," Chin said. "And check the house again. Maybe they've got some hidden somewhere."

"On it," Steve replied.

"And what am I supposed to do?" Danny asked as Steve headed out of the bedroom.

Steve stopped, turned and looked at his partner. "Maybe you should call Grace so she knows you're okay."

Danny's eyes widened. "Is that safe? What if they're tapping their phones?"

Steve nodded. "It's possible."

"Then how the hell am I supposed to call her?" Danny asked, left hand waving like a lunatic. "Why would you remind me of the fact that I don't know if I'm ever going to see my little girl again, huh? Christ, Steve, what the actual _fuck_-?"

Danny's rant was cut off by two arms enveloping him, while still making sure they didn't jostle his injured shoulder too much. "I'm sorry, Danny," Steve whispered as he gave a little squeeze and then released him. "I know what you're sacrificing for this and I wish you hadn't done it."

Stunned by the uncharacteristic display from his partner, it took a moment for Danny to find his voice. When he did, he smiled a little and ducked his head down to study the throwaway phone in his hand. "Oh, and just have to face that little girl we're talking about every day for the rest of my life and tell her I left her Uncle Steve to rot in the Navy's hands?" He looked up, eyes blazing. "You think I'd do that, you can go to hell, pal."

Steve shook his head. "No, I don't think you'd do that. I just wish…"

"I know." Danny sighed heavily. "Look, I'll think of something, and you can bet she'll want to say hi to you, too, and probably to Chin and Kono and hell, I'll even throw Mary Ann on the phone."

"Oh, joy, conversation with a kid," Mary scowled from the doorway. "Fun-fun."

"Hey, it's _my_ kid. You will say hello and you will _love__every__minute_ of it."

Mary chuckled as Steve skirted past her to search the house for weapons one more time. "Oh, my _God_, my brother was right about you."

"Right? What'd he say?"

"Like, two months ago on the phone he told me you're impossible."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really. Impossible, huh? Like his throwing himself off tall buildings and shipping containers isn't impossible? Like him taking running leaps over walls to execute flying tackles or swinging around on chains like Tarzan isn't impossible? Oh, my _God_, if he's become indestructible he'll _really_ be impossible now!"

Mary Ann laughed, holding her hands up in a defensive gesture. "Jesus, you two are _so_ married."

All Danny could do was shake his head and chuckle in response.

* * *

><p>"<em>Steve, what the hell is going on?"<em>

"What've they told you?"

"_Nothing,__"_ was the hiss-whispered response. _"__Nothing __but __asking __me __if __I__'__d __heard __from __you, __when __the __last __time __I__'__d __seen __you __was. __Every __communications __device, __every __computer __I __use __is being __monitored. __What __are __you __into?__"_

"Cat, there isn't time for me to go into specifics. Do you trust me?"

There was a slight pause and he could hear the smile in her voice when she replied,_"__I__'__ve __never __stopped.__"_

He smiled. There was something he'd never told her, and he was damn close to doing it right now.

"Steve, I think we've been made!" Chin said through the front door.

Steve turned and looked out a window that faced west, cursing loudly when he noted the line of vehicles on the horizon. "Shit, I didn't ditch Danny's phone fast enough. Cat, listen to me," he said, rushing into the kitchen. He saw a cutlery rack on the counter and quickly grabbed two steak knives, a twelve-inch Chef's Knife and a ten-inch Ham Slicer.

He secured the phone in the crook of his neck and hurried back to the bedroom where Mary Ann had just gotten Danny to his feet. "Get him out to the SUV," he said, pointing at Danny hauling himself off the bed while handing her the Ham Knife.

Mary Ann nodded. Danny's face was grimly determined but lined with pain when Steve handed him the Chef's Knife. He gave Steve a strange look that Steve didn't have time to interpret, but hurried out the door behind Mary without a word.

Steve let the phone slip from his neck into his hand and pressed it to his ear. "I need a bird, Alert Fifteen, March Air Reserve Base to home, yesterday."

"_Steve, I don't know if I have the clearance—"_

"Can't you go for a CHIT or something?"

"_You don't think a CHIT will be questioned?"_

"Cat, _please_."

She sighed. _"__Okay, __look, __I __know __an __LSO __at __March, __maybe __I __can __swing __something__—"_

"Thank you," Steve breathed as he reached the back door of the SUV. "And Cat?"

"_Yeah?"_

Steve stopped with his hand on the edge of the SUV's door, meeting his sister's eye for only a moment. He turned away, ducked his head and felt his heart rate skyrocket, sweat break out on his palms and neck and his breathing increase dramatically as he whispered, "I love you."

He thumbed the phone off, climbed into the back seat and shut the door as Chin stepped on the gas.

"Wow," a wide-eyed Mary said, earning a sharp look from Steve. "Your timing _really_ sucks."

* * *

><p><em>Terms:<em>

_CHIT_ – A small piece of paper, often a request for or granting of permission to do something

_LSO_ – Landing Signal Officer

'_a __bird__'_ – generic term for airplane

_Alert __Five_ – Aircraft on a fifteen-minute alert (fueled, pre-flight check completed and crew in place in fifteen minutes)


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

"All right, there's just a chain link surrounding the Base," Steve said as they all peered through the front window from across the 215 freeway. They were parked on a dirt road perpendicular to the freeway which provided them a clear view of the southwestern corner of March Air Reserve Base. "We'll have to hoof it. Cat's text said the Clipper will wait for us on the runway just the other side of the Museum there," he finished, pointing at what looked like two standard aircraft hangars just the other side of the Base fence.

"I found two shotguns in the garage, but nothing else," Chin said. "We've only got five shells."

"You and Kono take those," Steve replied, eyes continually scanning for any sight of the Clipper.

"How the hell did your Lieutenant manage to net us a plane, anyway?" Danny asked.

"With any luck, we'll have all the time in the world to find out," Steve replied absently.

"Hey, guys, I think I see something," Kono said, pointing toward the north.

Steve opened the SUV door and stood on the runner board. "That's it," he confirmed. "All right, we've got to make a run for it."

They all piled out of the SUV, Steve in the lead with Kono by his side. Danny and Chin sandwiched Mary Ann between them and the five took off. They made it across the access road, then hopped over a guard rail. The freeway traffic was pretty light for seven in the morning, so they were across in no time.

Mary's eyes were wide, reminding Steve of when they were both younger, how she'd always look to him to fix things. Until he couldn't anymore. And now, he was facing the same scenario. Because even if they managed to get off the ground here in California, and even if they managed to disembark safely in Hawaii, and even if they managed to untangle the web Steve had inadvertently uncovered – including his own particular medical problem – there was so much that could go wrong, so many dangerous people involved in the whole thing, Steve couldn't possibly guarantee _anyone__'__s_ safety right now.

The weight of leadership settled into a familiar spot on his shoulders. It was a responsibility he was born to have, his former CO had told him, and one he bore with grace. But that didn't mean it was easy, and having the potential costs hit so close to home, hit people he _loved_, was an added burden.

"All right, she's stopped," Steve said, listening to the change in the sound of the Clipper's jets. "Let's move out."

They ran toward the hangar that formed the furthest-right end of the museum and slipped around it. They darted through the museum exhibits that were parked on the opposite side: at least eight smaller airplanes and three massive ones, with a smattering of medium-sized craft in between. All were relics from military days gone by, and would've been appreciated by more than one member of the group under different circumstances.

From there it was a matter of running along an access drive until they reached the curved end of a severely cracked and unused service runway. Another four hundred and fifty feet beyond was the actual working runway. To get there was a straight shot with no obstructions.

The Clipper, a military version of the Boeing 737-700, was painted all white, with a black stripe bisecting it horizontally, and a half-width gold stripe above that. It was unmarked save for its identifying tail number, and the steps leading up to the entryway just in front of the tail had already been extended for them.

Steve double-checked his team with a quick look behind as he kept running. When he turned back to face the aircraft, just about halfway there, he almost stopped altogether. A figure stood at the top of the steps. Thin, wearing a Navy Type II working uniform. Curvy in all the right, familiar places with dark hair and a hat held in her hand. Steve felt a moment of disbelief, then relief as a grin the size of an aircraft carrier plastered itself to his face.

She waved, and he waved back.

"Is that who I think it is?" Kono asked.

"That's her," Chin replied. "Saw her picture on his phone once."

When Steve reached the top of the stairs, Catherine's look said it all. He enveloped her in a hug as the others rushed past them and made their way down the aisle. She had to extricate herself forcefully, but had a grin on her face as she moved to retract the steps.

"Commander, control yourself."

"No," he said petulantly.

She raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "You, Sailor, have a lot of explaining to do."

The smile disappeared from his face as he rubbed his neck. "Yeah," he said. "I know."

"We'll be able to take off in ten minutes," she continued as the last of the early morning light was blocked out when the door closed.

He looked her up and down. Hair in its tightly-wound regulation bun at the crown of her head. Makeup understated but enough to accentuate everything about her that was beautiful even without it. Uniform starched, pressed and perfect, and aside from the worry in her big, brown eyes, she seemed well enough.

"How'd you get here? I thought you were on the _Enterprise_ for another month!" he said as they made their way up the aisle to join the rest of the team.

"We docked in Seattle yesterday," she explained. "Kitchen fire, if you can believe it."

He grinned. That was a new one.

"This transport was due to take off later tonight for Honolulu from Paine Field, so I called in the last favors I had anywhere to get it to make a pit stop here."

"How'd you explain it?"

"You probably don't want to know."

Steve raised his eyebrows as they reached the row near the middle of the plane where his _ohana_ had seated themselves. "This is Lieutenant Catherine Rollins," he said, resting his fingertips against the small of her back.

"Cat, you remember my sister, Mary Ann."

"Hey," Mary said from her window seat to the left, sharing a knowing look with her.

"You two know each other already?" Danny asked.

"By sound, mostly," Mary snorted, rolling her eyes. Steve turned wide eyes to Catherine, who looked like the cat that ate the canary.

Trying to keep himself from asking what the hell _that_ was about, Steve gestured to Mary's seat companion. "This is my partner, Danny Williams."

"Pleasure to meet you finally," Danny said with a disarming smile, awkwardly holding up his left hand. When Catherine frowned a bit as she took it, he explained, "Shot to the shoulder. Happens a lot around him," with a nod in McGarrett's direction.

Steve glared at him. Cat looked half-alarmed, half-amused, but Danny's easy smile comforted her a bit. Still…_shot_? And they were smuggling themselves off the mainland, to boot. Oh, yeah…Steve had some _serious_ explaining to do.

"Chin Ho Kelly," Steve continued, turning her body gently around in time with his and gesturing to the man in the window seat to their right. "He was Dad's partner for a while."

Chin craned himself around the back of Kono's head to shake Cat's hand, a smile gracing his features. _"Hauʻoli kēia hui ʻana o kāua._"

That was a little out of Cat's league in terms of the Hawaiian language, but she smiled and said, "Thank you," because the look on his face told her it'd been something nice.

Kono looked up at Cat, held out a hand, and introduced herself. The women shook hands, and there was _definitely_ some sizing-up going on there.

Steve grinned at them. It wasn't quite how he'd envisioned _anything_ having to do with Catherine going down but hey, you rolled with the punches and when you didn't know what was going to happen next, you sometimes had to roll fast.

"I'm going to have a word with the pilot and co-pilot," Cat said. "I'll be back before we start taxiing."

Steve's hand slipped down her arm and caught her hand tightly. She stopped, turned and looked up at him with a dazzling smile, then left him standing there like a complete idiot as she pulled away and headed for the cockpit.

"Yo, Earth to Steve," Danny said, clearly enjoying the whole turnabout-is-fair-play moment.

"Huh?"

They laughed at him.

"Holy crap, she's more gorgeous than I remembered," Mary said. Steve's ears were pinking rather nicely, she thought.

"All right, guys, enough," he said, though he couldn't quite stifle his happiness. "Once we get in the air, we're going to have about five hours to come up with a plan."

"Assuming we can land without immediately getting arrested," Chin added.

"Yeah, there is that," Danny chimed in.

"I think I need a nap," Mary said, and then yawned to prove it.

"I have to brief Catherine," Steve said. "She has _no_ idea what's going on."

"Great, you do that and we'll save the day," Danny said, leaning forward in his seat and shooing Steve away with a flap of his hand.

They were all tired. Hell, beyond tired…ex_haus_ted. But now was no time to rest. Catherine reappeared, and Steve kept her at the front row of seats. Everyone fastened their seatbelts except Mary, until Danny made a great show of threatening to do it for her. A challenge which she, by the way, accepted, until he winced when his shoulder moved the wrong way. Then she just felt bad, did it herself and endured a slightly less deadly version of his patented McGarrett-PITA-Glare.

A quiet gasp and Steve's arms wrapping around Catherine as the murmur of his voice drifted back through the cabin was their only indication as the jet gained speed for takeoff, that Catherine was learning who…and what…the man she loved had become. And exactly what situation they were all in.

No one could find it in themselves to talk about plans just now. Instead, they exchanged looks that spoke volumes, Mary Ann biting her lip, then closed their eyes to give Steve and Cat as much privacy as possible eight rows ahead.

Learning your boyfriend was AWOL from the very Navy you served was one thing.

Finding out what that branch of service had done to him to begin with, was entirely another.

* * *

><p>Steve allowed his team to doze for a couple hours while he and Cat talked quietly. She was understandably everything from angry to confused to skeptical to upset to full of hatred for so many people that she now sat spent and exhausted with red-rimmed eyes and tear tracks down her cheeks just letting Steve hold her.<p>

In the end, though, what could she say? Nothing. Not really. All she could do was what she'd already done by securing the Clipper and being there. Steve had confessed his feelings over and over throughout these two hours. It was something she'd never thought she'd hear him say, but something she freely said right back, the joy she felt tempered by the horrific reality they found themselves in.

"So what do we do once we get to Honolulu?" she asked tiredly, nuzzling his neck.

"You sure you want to stick with us? They'll list you as AWOL, too. Your career, Cat—"

"My ca_reer_?" she repeated, jerking her head back and staring at him incredulously. "You think…Christ, Steve, what we've both given to them, and _this_ is how they repay you?"

"I know, I know," he said, thumbs tracing absentminded circles on the backs of her hands. "But I can't ask you to become part of this. You could wind up court-martialed, jailed."

"You idiot," she said fondly, laying her hand on his stubbled cheek. "I became part of _this_ a long time ago." He leaned in and kissed her softly, kiss after kiss after kiss, until finally she held a hand against his chest. "Later, you."

Steve ducked his head, a slow flush rising from his neck, and flashed her his trademark goof-sap-smile, as Danny liked to call it. "I'm holding you to that."

"I'm counting on it," she said cheekily. Then she twisted around to look back at Steve's team and his sister. "I hate for us to wake them up. They seem so tired."

"They are. We _all_ are," Steve admitted. "But we've got to get a plan together for what we're going to do when we land. Come on."

* * *

><p><em>Three Hours Later…<em>

"All right, we'll be on the ground in ten minutes," Catherine announced as she approached the team. "Both the pilot and co-pilot turned a blind eye when you boarded. They have no idea who their passengers are, and will not be paying any attention when we disembark, either."

"How'd you manage that?" Danny asked.

"I may have led them to believe this was a highly classified personnel transfer."

"Well, you didn't _lie_ exactly," Steve teased.

She grinned, perching on her knees on the seat in front of Danny. "That LSO I told you I knew has a stripped SUV on standby."

"Stripped?" Mary Ann repeated.

"As in, no VIN, bogus license plate, the works," Catherine explained.

Chin whistled long and low, and Kono's look of appreciation made Catherine wink at her.

"All right, we all know what we're going to do," Steve said, all business now. "Chin, Kono, you're getting Cat somewhere that she can keep an ear to the Navy lines, and securing weapons and whatever gear we need to dig into this."

The cousins nodded, as did Catherine.

"Danny, you and Mary Ann are going to secure a base of operations for us, and text Chin the location as soon as you've got it."

"You're benching me because of my shoulder," Danny said quietly, meeting his gaze.

Steve was acutely aware of the sudden attention from everyone around them, including Catherine, who turned a surprised face to his.

"No, Danny," he said equally softly. "I'm putting you in charge of the only blood relative I've got left."

Danny looked quickly at Mary Ann, then back at Steve. "You can't go do whatever it is you're going to go do alone. And the very fact that you won't _tell_ us what you're going to go do? That right there tells _me_ I shouldn't let you out of my sight."

Everyone's eyes moved back to Steve, knowing Danny was right on the money.

"Look, promise me…whatever you do, Steve, _promise_ me you won't just barge into Jameson's office on your own, okay? Just…whatever it is you're off to do, not that."

Steve nodded once, curtly. "Fine."

Danny wasn't convinced. But Mary _did_ need protection, and to his credit, Steve _did_ have the added benefit of his hidden green weapon in case something went wrong. Not that Steve could control it. And Danny wouldn't be there to tame him or keep him from killing way more people than could be explained as 'self-defense.'

Shit.

"No," Danny said as the plane bumped down on the runway. He had his seatbelt off and was standing in the aisle within seconds. "No, partner. You do _not_ go this alone. You intend to confront Jameson, and I will _not_ let that happen. You and I will go _together_. I'm the back-up, remember?"

Steve glared at him, but Danny wasn't backing down. As if he ever had. Catherine watched them with no small measure of respect for the cop who could stare down a Navy SEAL without so much as a twitch. The silent conversation they seemed to be having just with their eyes intrigued her.

"Jesus Christ, you're _impossible_," Steve growled.

"See? Told you that's what he said," Mary piped up from behind him.

Steve fixed his glare past Danny to his sister's face, but it didn't faze her any more than it did his partner.

"You're either going with me to Jameson's office or you're going with Mary Ann to secure the safe house and _I__'__ll_ go talk to Jameson mysel—wait a minute. Wait just a minute!" Danny said, left index finger pointing upwards as the _a-ha_ hit him. "That's it, Steve. This will work!"

"What will work?" everyone but Catherine asked in unison.

"The last time I met with Jameson, she handed Five-0 to me along with a two-level hike in title. She said we were to spend _all_ our time finding you," he pointed at Steve, "until I was back there standing in her office with you by my side _where __you __belong_."

"She said that?" Steve asked.

"She did," Danny nodded. "Now, let's say I go in there like I still have no idea where you are, like I've been in California looking for you, haven't found you, and am reporting back."

"Won't work if the Navy's keeping her informed, _brah_," Chin offered.

"But what if they're not? She told me her military contacts weren't helping at all, that she couldn't get any info out of them. She actually seemed genuinely pissed off."

"There could be a million reasons for that, given what she did," Steve spat. Catherine gently touched her fingertips to his arm.

"There could be a million reasons for _anything_, Steve, and I'm more likely to get those reasons out of her if I start off ally and graduate to interrogation without your thousand-yard stare putting her hackles up or you deciding a gun in her face is the best way to get answers."

Steve ran a hand through his hair three times before puffing out a breath in frustration. "Danny, I can't let you go in there alone. If she's part of this whole mess, if she's already aware of what's wrong with me, what the Navy did to me…you could be walking into a trap."

"I'll have my secret weapon within shouting distance," Danny said, a mischievous smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

"What secret weapon is that?" Mary asked as the plane taxied to a stop and the engines slowly started winding down.

Danny turned and gave her an impish grin. "Big green Steve, of course," he replied. Then he turned back to face the others. "You'll come with me, we'll just keep you out of sight. You can ninja yourself to within earshot, right?"

"Ninja myself?" Steve repeated with a chuckle. He looked at each of them in turn, eyes finally coming back to rest on Danny, who was all sorts of sure of himself right now with his new plan. "All right, all right," Steve finally said, shaking his head. "If things go south, I'll be there. We'll put Mary with Chin and Cat with Kono instead. But I need better weapons than these before I go in as _your_ back-up," he finished, looking at the two steak knives on the seat next to him, then giving Danny a meaningful look. "We'll pay a visit to Kamekona first."

"They might be watching him," Kono said. "Only one of us should go."

"They're bound to recognize _anyone_ from Five-0," Steve pointed out. "And no doubt they're well aware of what Mary Ann looks like."

"Your local PD doesn't know me, and chances are the local Navy boys don't, either," Catherine said. "Point me in the right direction. I'll get you your weapons."

"Oh," Danny grinned with a twinkle in his eye, "I _like_ her."

* * *

><p><em>Translation:<em>

__Hauʻoli kēia hui ʻana o kāua.__ – Pleased to meet you.

_Terms:_

_PITA_ – pain-in-the-ass

_CO_ – Commanding Officer

_VIN_ - Vehicle Identification Number


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

"This is insane," Danny muttered as the cab pulled into the Pflueger Honda dealership's parking lot on South Beretania. It was less than a block from the governor's residence.

Steve glared at him. "This was _your_ bright idea, Partner."

"And it _is_ a bright idea. It's just that it's also insane, which leads me to believe your brand of crazy has irreversibly altered my Weird Shit-O-Meter scale for life."

Giving him a look that said he was pretty sure Danny was just throwing words together and hoping they'd stick together as per usual, Steve opened the door of the cab and made to get out. Only he'd barely thrown a leg out the door when he felt a strong hand on his forearm. He stopped and looked back at Danny, whose face was, for a change, unreadable.

"Be careful, Steve."

Steve felt his heart stutter in his chest for a moment, the weight of emotion heavy in Danny's words. "You too," he said, reaching out to touch Danny's hand briefly before extricating himself from the cab and shutting the door behind him.

"On to the governor's residence," Danny said to the cabbie, who nodded and hit the accelerator.

Danny resisted the urge to turn and watch his best friend melt into the landscape, something he had little doubt Steve was good at. He'd be making his way to Jameson's residence on foot, and was to be in place somewhere within earshot of Jameson's office within five minutes of Danny's arrival.

The plan was solid, with the only real wild card here being whether or not Jameson had been telling the truth about her military contacts being tight-lipped. If Danny had judged her reactions on that incorrectly, and she already knew he'd found Steve in California, and that the entire team had disappeared from the radar, all it would take was the surreptitious press of a button beneath her desk to have Danny in custody.

But even if that happened, Steve would still be on the outside, along with the rest of their _ohana_, and they'd put things right. Danny had utter faith in that. The only way in which even _that_ wouldn't work, though, was if Jameson got it in her head that Danny – because he already knew too much – had to die.

But he simply could _not_ see her as a cold-blooded killer. She was more the type to have someone else do her dirty work, he reasoned, and while it was possible she'd have security guards, official or not, nearby, Danny couldn't imagine her wanting him murdered right there in her office. It would raise too many questions.

So he'd probably be taken somewhere, and with Steve on-hand, they wouldn't get very far before Steve would effectively put an end to _those_ plans. Long and short of it was, no matter which of a hundred different ways this could go, Steve had Danny's back, and the rest of the team had theirs.

Didn't make Danny any less nervous, though he was damn good at not showing it.

* * *

><p>"Detective Williams, I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon."<p>

Danny strode across her office, carefully scrutinizing her posture, her direct eye contact, the set of her jaw and mouth and her body language in general. Within seconds, he determined from all of these things that she had no idea they'd found Steve and caused general mayhem in and around Southern California.

"What news of Steve?" she asked.

"None yet," Danny replied, seating himself comfortably, casually, in one of the two chairs across from her desk. When she opened her mouth to speak, he held up a hand. "I know you told me you wanted to see me back here with Steve and trust me, nothing would make me happier. But I've hit a dead end and I need your help."

"Name it," she said, eyes leveling with his.

He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, hands rubbing together. "You know anyone at Queens Medical Center?"

She leaned back, eyes narrowing as she thought. "I might have a contact or two. What do you need?"

Danny leaned back in the chair. _Show__time_, he thought.

"I need to get my hands on a birth certificate," he explained slowly. Not even a twitch. Damn, she was good.

"Whose?" she asked.

He paused, more to gather his thoughts than for dramatic effect, and then replied, "McGarrett's."

_A-ha! There's the twitch._

"What does Steve's birth certificate have to do with his disappearance?"

He had to hand it to her. She was cool under fire. Her voice didn't even waver.

"Oh, I believe it has _everything_ to do with his disappearance, although, I would tend to term it something more along the lines of kidnapping myself," he replied.

"What is it you've found that leads you to believe a birth certificate will help you locate him, Lieutenant?"

"Well," Danny said, rubbing his fingers along the stubble on his chin, "it seems McGarrett's entire life has been a lie from the day he was born."

_Oh, there we go. The twitch is back._

"I'm not sure I understand." Oh, so cool. Oh, so calm. Oh, _so_ collected.

"We really have you to thank for putting us on the right trail, Governor." Danny rose to his feet and wandered around the office. He stopped in front of a cabinet back and to the side of Jameson's desk, eyeing the various chachkis on display. An old mantle clock held his attention for a moment.

"Me?"

"Yes," Danny nodded as he turned to face her, stuffing his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels. "It was because of one of the cold case files you gave us that we put two and two together." He shrugged. "When it added up to six, we knew we were onto something big."

"I'm not really following."

_Oh, __you _so _are._

When she swiveled in her chair to look at him, he noticed the little button just under the edge of her desk. That would be the one she'd press if she wanted him out of there. Or killed. Either way.

_Time to drop the first bomb._

"Leeanne McGarrett wasn't Steve's biological mother."

There was no mistaking the way her hands gripped the arms of her chair so tight that her knuckles went white. No mistaking how wide her eyes grew.

"What are you talking about?" she asked in a near-whisper.

"Okay, I see you're going to keep right on playing innocent, Governor, so here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to lay this all out for you, what I think the truth is, and then you're going to tell me which parts I've got right. How's that?"

Jameson swallowed hard, but didn't say a word. Her eyes were glued to Danny's.

"I'll take that as a 'yes,' and I'm going to start with the end of 1975. I know it was a long time ago, hell, it was before I was born, and Steve, too. You know our birthdays are one day apart, right? I'm sure you're well aware of when Steve's birthday is, Governor."

And now she'd gone pale as a ghost.

Good.

"So in December of '75 there was this summit, you see. This summit on land development, and what do you know, you were there, Governor. Only it was way before you were the governor, of course." Danny started pacing around the room, left hand waving and chopping and slicing through the air while he kept his right hand stuffed into his pants pocket. His shoulder was really starting to give him shit.

"Now, normally that wouldn't be a big deal at all, but you see it is, because a young cop named John McGarrett, known to his close friends as Jack, was your security escort on that trip."

_Funny how people who are under fire suddenly appear five times smaller than their normal size._

"But, see, that's not even the most ridiculous part of the whole thing because there were two other people along for the ride, not the least of which was Wo Fat, so hey, not only are you buddy-buddy with Hiro Noshimuri, and that right there sets off all sorts of alarm bells given what he's got his dirty little fingers into, but you also have known Wo Fat longer than Steve and I have been alive."

Jameson swallowed hard again, but hadn't moved a muscle. _Deer __in __headlights __is __a __good __look __on __her._

"And believe it or not, the worst part of my day hadn't even happened yet in finding out those two delicately hidden pieces of information, Governor. Oh, no, because you know what _else_ I found out?" He punched a finger into the air as he came to stand directly in front of Jameson's desk once more. She didn't even turn to face him, just sat rigidly in place like she'd been frozen to the spot.

"I'll tell you what else, Governor. I found out that my ex-wife's father…my ex-father-in-law, grandfather to my beautiful, perfect, precious little girl Grace, was there, too. So, you know, I think to myself, funny how you never mentioned to Steve you knew Wo Fat back when he told you about him for the first time. Funny how you just sort of kept that to yourself."

No reaction.

"And it's also funny that my ex-father-in-law is how my ex-wife met her current husband, Step-Stan…or maybe you know him better as Stan Edwards, because I'm sure you _must_ know him, Governor. Am I right?"

Nothing.

"And furthermore, and this is the thing that will really send Steve on a roller coaster straight to a mental breakdown, I think, is the whole thing where _you_," he said, pointing directly at her, "had an affair with John McGarrett, got _pregnant_, and not only gave the baby up, but—" He leaned forward, hands flat on her desk, glaring at her as she slowly turned her head to face him. "—you subsequently had his birth certificate _falsified_ and let another woman raise your son as _hers_. As _her __son_."

Now there were tears welling up in Jameson's eyes. Just like that, Danny knew he'd won. She'd break any time now, and the miniature mic in his pocket would catch every single solitary word, feeding it to where he knew Chin Ho was recording it remotely. He wondered if Jameson had a clue.

"And, you know, here's the part where I'm a little at a loss, Governor, so maybe you can fill in the blanks for me."

For this, Danny knew he was shooting from the hip. But he was pretty damn sure he knew exactly the right wrong thing to say that would set her off. Right in that it would be wrong enough to her ears that she wouldn't be able to stay silent any longer.

He knew how to break suspects. He'd always tried telling McGarrett that getting inside a suspect's head was how police work was done. You got the information you needed, and didn't need to worry about playing footsie with the Geneva Convention to gather intel.

"So I guess I can get the whole thing about you not wanting it to come out that you'd slept with a married cop and had the baby to prove it. Really, that sort of makes sense given the political aspirations you had even back then, fresh out of college. And given that John was really his father, it's a no-brainer he'd agree to raise the baby. But it kills me that Leeanne was not only okay with this arrangement, but stayed married to John in spite of what he'd done."

Nope, he was losing her with that one. _Okay, __switching __tactics._

"But what I'm not sure about is why you never told Steve that you're his mother."

A small gasp escaped her lips.

"I mean, Leanne is murdered, John sends your boy away to relatives on the mainland. He comes back to Hawaii to bury his dad, you go meet him at Pearl, you spin him this yarn about wanting your island cleaned up, wanting him to head up your task force, and when he tells you that you don't even know him – and I'll bet that stung, by the way," he added when she flinched, "and all the time he's been leading your task force, that you've shared beers, that you've had closed-door meetings, the hours and hours and hours that've passed since he came back to Hawaii, and never _once_ did you walk up to him and tell him who you _are_ to him!"

One tear spilled over and rolled down her right cheek.

"So I gotta ask myself, why, you know? I say, 'Danny, what would make a mother want to keep her son so close and yet never say a word to him about the whole thing?' because I gotta tell you, Governor, I know I couldn't let Gracie go through life like that, not knowing I'm her dad. And then it occurs to me, hey wait a minute, she's friends with all these Japanese gangster-types and she's got this Top Dog job as Governor of Hawaii, and she's got enough pull to grant full immunity and means to a guy who's never even read a police procedural manual, without so much as batting an eye."

Jameson's breaths were coming in quick gasps now.

"And I'm going to guess that you got where you are because of deals you made. Deals with Charles Stuart, possibly with Stan Edwards, and with Wo Fat. Deals that started back when Steve was conceived in Los Angeles, deals that have continued right on through to today. So when I pair that with 'how a mother can possibly abandon her child like that,' you know what I get?"

He finally pulled away from the desk, backed up a step and sat down in the chair. He leaned back and placed his elbows on the armrests, wishing like hell he'd brought a bottle of water with him. Christ, even for him, this was an awful lot of talking. And goddammit, his shoulder was _killing_ him.

"Blackmail." He said the word quietly enough that it could barely be heard. But a shiver ran through Jameson's body like she'd just been doused with an entire bucket of cold water. "How far did you go to keep the secret that you're a decorated Navy SEAL's mother a secret, Governor?"

And that's when his mind answered its own question. He had to stifle the urge to recoil from his own thought. It wasn't even something he'd considered before, but now, popping into his head like it had always been there and had just stepped out for lunch, the thought consumed him. He turned an admittedly somewhat shocked face to look directly into her eyes.

"He blackmailed you into letting the Navy have Steve for that experiment, didn't he?" Danny rose to his feet as the pieces started falling into place. "Goddammit, Governor, Wo Fat's the one behind what they did to Steve! Isn't he!"

Jameson closed her eyes like she was in excruciating pain. Tears spilled over onto her cheeks.

"You listen to me, you _bitch_," Danny ground out, rounding the edge of the desk and shoving his way right into her personal space. "You tell me _right now_ why the hell the Navy experimented on Steve and what the _fuck_ your role in it was or so help me God—"

At that precise moment, the door to the governor's office swung open. Danny caught sight of a man walking in and taking two long steps before stopping. In one second, Danny registered the man had a gun. A split-second later, he registered the man was Wo Fat. Before those thoughts had even solidified, the gun Danny had 'borrowed' from Kamekona was out of the waistband of his also-borrowed jeans and pointed right back at the bastard.

"Well, Detective Williams, I have to admire your problem-solving skills," Wo Fat said with a smile.

"That's _Lieutenant_ Williams to _you_," Danny growled, tightening his finger over the trigger.

"Your title is of no more consequence to me than you are," Wo Fat replied. "Although I suppose I should correct you on one thing before I kill you."

Danny said nothing, eyes broadcasting his hatred for this man on wide spectrum.

"Stan Edwards isn't the one who's knee-deep in this," Wo Fat continued, smirking as he looked Danny in the eyes.

It was all he could do not to vent his rage. Rage at the idea that Rachel had pulled him into this web somehow, for some reason he couldn't fathom. That he and Steve had been tied together since before they were even born. That it all boiled down to this moment, right here and right now, with him standing in the room confronting both Steve's mother _and _the mastermind behind fucking up more lives than Danny could shake a stick at.

"We have to do something with him." Jameson rose to her feet, sparing Danny a quick glance before turning to face Wo Fat. She was shaking like a leaf. "He knows too much."

"Don't worry," Wo Fat said in dulcet tones as he swung his weapon away from Danny and leveled it at her chest. "I have everything under control."

Seconds later, Pat Jameson was dead.

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: For those who may not be aware, Wo Fat's lines right there at the end are lifted from Season 1, Episode 24 of the show.<em>


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

In the split second Wo Fat's gun went off, Danny's did, too. Wo Fat didn't have time to swing his gun around, Danny's bullet zinging past his temple as he expertly dodged it.

And then a figure appeared, looming in the open office door.

"Put it down."

Danny had his gun trained squarely at Wo Fat's head as the man slowly moved from being bent sideways where he'd dodged the bullet, to his full height. He looked at Danny, then turned, gun still held firmly in his gloved hand but resting easy pointed at the floor.

"McGarrett," he said with a nod of greeting. "My apologies about your mother," he continued. Then, a small smile playing around the corners of his mouth, added, "Both of them."

For the first time ever, Danny saw his partner close to breaking. His eyes were large and round and pooled unmistakably with wetness. He was using both hands to hold onto the fifty caliber Desert Eagle Kamekona had provided, yet still a slight tremor made it unsteady. And the look on Steve's face. Danny couldn't _begin_ to unravel all the emotions it encompassed.

He knew Steve was thinking about the woman he'd called Mom his entire life…about how Wo Fat murdered her in cold blood when Steve was just a teenager, as he took a step closer to his enemy.

He knew Steve was thinking about how he'd been toyed with. A pawn in a game, a power struggle to be at the top of the heap. First, given up as an infant and then…then, if Danny's theory was correct, handed over to a Navy who apparently didn't operate as above the belt as the United States government might want you to believe.

He knew Steve was thinking about the father who'd kept a terrible secret for so many years, and died before Steve could look him in the eye and learn the real truth from his own lips.

He knew Steve was thinking about the fact that the woman who was his real mother, his birth mother, was dead before he'd ever gotten the chance to look her in the eye and ask, "Why? Why did you do this to me?"

And he knew Steve was thinking about the fact that at any given moment, he could change. He could morph from being Steve the human, the former Naval Intelligence officer, Navy SEAL Reservist, former quarterback, Five-0 task force leader…to Steve the Monster. The Giant Green _Thing_. To a comic book, movie and television character that may have been billed a superhero, but had never brought anything but angst to the man who wanted freedom from it.

The seconds passed like each contained a year in and of itself. Wo Fat didn't move a muscle, didn't even seem to be breathing.

"Why?" Steve asked, voice low and gruff as he fought to contain his emotions.

"I warned you," Wo Fat told him calmly. "I warned you not to look into your family's past because you may not like what you find."

Steve nodded once, slowly.

"And I was right. Wasn't I."

It wasn't a question.

Danny inched forward, fully intending to disarm the bastard who seemed to be behind every shitty thing that had ever happened to Steve and maybe even to Danny for all he knew. He wasn't even a hand's breadth from McGarrett now, but still over two feet from Wo Fat.

Lightning-fast, Wo Fat's right arm came up, pointed directly at the center of Danny's chest, and fired.

A gut-churning combination of a growl and a howl was the next thing Danny heard, and before he could even try to flatten himself to the floor, something did the flattening for him. Then a roar of pain and the weight on top of him grew heavier, larger.

Steve was changing.

And he'd taken the bullet intended for Danny.

"_Kuso!_" Wo Fat spat, backing away as he watched, eyes widened in horror. Watched Steve's skin turn green and his hair grow longer. Watched his muscles expand until they were easily three times the size of normal. Watched as the bullet he'd intended to kill Williams with popped out of Steve's back and clattered to the floor, even as the wound began to close in on itself.

Wo Fat fired two more shots as Changed Steve rose to his feet and put himself directly between his enemy and the man he seemed hard-wired to protect. Danny pushed himself up onto his elbows, watching one bullet tear into Steve's taut green abdomen while the other ripped into his pec just over his heart.

Steve yowled in agony, dropping to his knees. Wo Fat took aim again. This time it was at Steve's head.

"You were meant to lead an army," he said softly, almost reverently, as he stared at the creature like it was a beloved pet gone bad. "You were meant for great things, Mr. McGarrett." He paused, eyes still wide as though disbelieving what they were seeing. "But sadly, all great things must come to an end."

Danny heard the bullet from Steve's abdomen pop out and clatter to the floor even as Steve fell forward, palms flat, heart still pumping and spurting blood out of the wound on his chest even as his superhuman body tried to heal it from the inside out.

Rising to his feet, hands on Steve's back, Danny watched the blood pour onto the floor, then looked up and realized Wo Fat wasn't paying him any attention. It was like he and Green Steve were the only ones in the room. Like Danny wasn't even there.

So Danny reached down, picked his dropped handgun up from the floor, made sure his aim was true, and fired.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Green Steve's face turned up to watch what Danny was doing even as tears leaked out of his eyes and a cry of pain was torn from his throat. Wo Fat's own eyes widened at the sounds of agony he heard, but he seemed frozen, like he couldn't bring himself to squeeze the trigger and put the hulking thing out of its misery.

And Danny would later swear, just within the privacy of his own mind, that things had gone _Matrix_ on him. That he could see it slicing into the air, pushing through like it was a tangible thing the bullet needed to breach in order to reach its intended goal. He would swear he saw the moment the bullet kissed Wo Fat's skin, dead-center between his eyebrows, before slamming through skin and skull and into the center of his brain.

Wo Fat's eyes moved to Danny's and opened even wider, as though surprised to find Danny was there, surprised that he'd not seen this coming. Surprised that he was now…finally and truly…dead.

His body drooped like the puppetmaster had suddenly let go of the strings. Everything buckled, and when Wo Fat's head banged into the floor, bounced back up, and then came to rest with a deep, dark hole between his eyes, Danny closed his own eyes, took a deep breath, and sank to his knees next to Steve.

Then, like an antique clock that was finally wound back up so it could function again, Time started moving forward at its normal pace, seconds turning into minutes as Changed Steve hunched over the floor whimpering, drool and blood dripping from his lips, catching in long strings until it got too heavy and dropped from his mouth. His eyes tore into Danny's heart with all the pain, the anguish, the regret, the relief, the sorrow. Everything Steve was feeling was right there, unmasked, and Danny ached for him with every fiber of his being.

He moved forward, nudging Steve's hands up with his own, grabbing them tightly, scooting forward to push Steve's body upright until they were kneeling knee-to-knee. Danny looked down at the hole over Steve's heart, praying and praying to any deity who would listen that being the Hulk would save his life one more time.

And as if the deities had only been waiting for someone to call their names, suddenly Danny saw it, golden colored and obscenely beautiful as it neared the entrance of the wound and then suddenly popped straight out, catching in the fold of jeans at Danny's groin. He and Steve both stared at its mushroom shape, then met each other's eyes.

As the hole in Steve's chest mended itself closed, Danny pulled his friend into his arms. When he felt the creature's arms encircle him so gently, even with all the strength they possessed, he leaned his forehead on the broad green shoulder and took a deep, shuddering breath.

He just wanted to hold him forever. Or maybe, at least, until he returned to being the Steve who was human. But the distant sound of sirens wafted through the walls, and there were two dead bodies in this room that would be hard enough to explain without the presence of someone who looked like Steve did right now.

So Danny pulled away, noting the hurt look Green Steve gave him, like maybe the creature wasn't ready to let go yet either. But Danny knew he had to be the one to do the logical, rational thinking for them both right now. When his disposable cell phone rang seconds later, he pulled it out of his back pocket and thumbed it on, Steve's right hand holding tightly to his left.

Wincing at the pain shooting through his shoulder, and wishing for half a second he could heal as quickly as Steve, Danny barked, "Chin!" into the phone, eyes never leaving Steve's.

"_We just heard shots were fired at the governor's residence! What happened, Danny?"_

"No time to explain. Steve's hulked out again, Jameson and Wo Fat are dead, I need to get us out of here _now_."

Red and blue flashing lights appeared through the windows, bouncing off the walls inside, off Steve's green body, off Danny.

"_First units are on-scene, already, Danny, you'll be surrounded in minutes!"_

Danny looked around frantically, then saw through the door to a staircase out in the hall. "Okay, okay, we're going up, okay? Up to the roof. Christ!" He pocketed the phone, leaving the line open. He reached down and grabbed Steve's other gigantic hand and pulled at him. "Come on, Steve, we have to go, we have to go _now_!"

Seeming to understand, Steve got to his feet and led the way out of the office. He made for the front door just as Danny heard cruiser doors slamming outside.

"No, no, _this__way_!" Danny whispered fiercely, pulling Steve toward the staircase. They made their way up, then along the balcony-style hall. Danny kept trying doors, goddammit, one of them _had_ to work!

It was only then he realized there were several either dead or unconscious men scattered throughout both the first and second floors. He looked up at Steve. "Did you do that?" he asked, gesturing to the one that lay on the floor not five feet away.

Steve cocked his head, looking at the body, and grunted softly at Danny.

Danny shook his head, knowing that hadn't been Steve's handiwork. Steve wouldn't just kill, but Wo Fat would. He spared a thought for the families of these nameless, faceless men taken down by a man whose sole purpose had seemed to be destroying McGarretts as they kept going, Steve's hand firmly in his, and Steve watching with great curiosity as Danny twisted doorknobs, opened doors, and then moved along.

The front door downstairs was kicked open and Danny heard HPD rush in. Maybe even the SWAT team for all he knew. There was a final door at the end of the hall and he knew if that wasn't it they were so _so_ screwed.

But it was.

Behind the door were steps leading up, and so he shoved Steve ahead of him and closed the door behind them as quietly as he could. He pulled his phone out and thumbed it back to the open line with Chin, using the light from its screen to keep from stumbling in the darkness of what appeared to be a small attic.

Six feet in front of them was another door, this one with a huge padlock on it. "We have to go through there," Danny hissed at Steve. "Open that door!" He pointed toward it and Steve looked at him, then at the door.

Steve moved to it quickly, grabbed the padlock and wrenched it away effortlessly. He then closed his fingers around the doorknob like he'd seen Danny do, only apparently he had missed the part where you turned the knob to open it, because he just pulled and the knob came off in his hand.

"I never thought I'd hear myself say this," Danny muttered, throwing his hands up in the air, "but just kick it _down_, Steve!"

If Chin's chuckle could be heard through the still-open phone line, Danny chose to ignore it.

Big green Steve lifted his foot and kicked right through the door. Just like that, the night breeze hit their faces and they raced out onto the roof. Danny looked around, but there wasn't a whole helluva lot of light up here.

"Chin, get us _outta__here_!" Danny whispered into the phone, hand on Steve's arm to keep him close.

'_That building isn't connected to any of the ones around it, Danny. You're going to have to jump to the ground and get away before you're seen."_

"Great," Danny growled, scanning the rooftop. It was white and flat, and he realized they were actually on top of the carport, with half of HPD directly below in the driveway and all over the front lawn. He pulled Steve back against the door they'd just come through and held him there with a hand splayed over his stomach.

And it occurred to him in that moment, that if Steve had really wanted to, he could've gotten away so easily. But he just stood there breathing heavily like he was pumped, primed, ready for action, and Danny almost laughed out loud when he realized that Green Steve was just as much an adrenaline junky as Human Steve. But the laughed died in his throat when he also realized Steve, perfectly capable of getting away scot-free, was staying by his side to protect him.

Danny assessed their location as best as he could, craning his neck up and back to his left to figure out where they might be able to get onto the higher part of the roof that covered the actual mansion. And they had to get off this carport roof because when HPD finally made it to the attic door, they'd find them way too easily here.

Steve looked at Danny, then followed his line of sight and seemed to get what was running through Danny's head, because before Danny could even register what was happening, Steve picked him up so that they were face-to-face. He grunted softly, breath blowing across Danny's face, and tilted his head back to look up at the roof.

"This is so undignified," Danny groused, but he wrapped his legs around Steve's waist and hooked his left arm around Steve's thick neck while still holding the phone to his ear with his right hand. Blood had started seeping through the shirt at his shoulder again, but Danny did everything he could to just block out the pain.

Once he was securely glommed onto his partner's tree-trunk of a body, Green Steve backed up a few paces, looked up at the roof, and then just jumped. Danny's eyes widened as they sailed up in a short arc and landed at the apex of the black roof above.

"You are handy," Danny said, his hand squeezing the back of Steve's neck reassuringly. "Now listen, we need to get away. We need to get off this roof, onto the ground, but so those men down there," he nodded toward the front of the residence, "don't see us. Can you get us away?"

Steve cocked his head and Danny puffed out a breath of air in frustration. He pointed off to Steve's right, where the longest part of the roof led to the very back of the mansion, and barked, "Go!"

This, Steve seemed to get. He turned and somehow without so much as a single misstep, ran along the triangular rooftops, each section going lower and lower, until they reached the very end. He stopped and looked down, then to the left and the right. Danny could hear SWAT coming around both sides of the building. He stuffed the phone into his pocket and stifled a groan of agony as he lifted his right arm to loop around Steve's neck, hands grasping each other so he could hold on in spite of his shoulder.

"Steve, go, go. Jump down. We have to go now," he said into Steve's ear.

The response was Steve's left arm tightening around Danny's body, and the now-familiar rush of falling. He'd barely registered the bump that meant Steve had landed when shouted words combined with the cocking of several very large weapons reached his ears.

"Stop right there!"

When Danny looked up, it was to find that he and Steve were surrounded.

By SEALs.

* * *

><p><em>Translations:<em>

_Kuso!_ – Japanese all-purpose curse word


	17. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

Big green Steve wrapped both arms protectively around Danny. It wasn't lost on a guy who was small compared to his partner when he was human how the hulked-out version's arms alone seemed to cover the majority of his back.

"Put the detective down," one of the SEALs, probably the Team Leader, Danny thought, ordered.

"That's _Lieutenant_!" Danny snapped and Steve growled softly, eyes darting from SEAL to SEAL. Steve turned slowly, taking in each and every one of the eight men surrounding him. "He took out a whole team already," Danny challenged, raising his chin defiantly and trying to muster as much dignity as possible when he was clinging to Steve like Grace did to him sometimes. "What makes you think _you_ can take him out?"

_Oh, __sure, __Williams, __goad __the __guys __holding __terrifying __weapons, __that__'__s __real __brilliant_, he thought, rolling his eyes at himself.

Danny's hand tightened around the gun he still had tucked between his body and Steve's. Steve looked down at the feel of the cold metal, then up into Danny's eyes. "You need to get away," Danny whispered. "They won't hurt me. They'll use me to try and get to you, but they won't hurt me as long as you're alive to be gotten." He could tell from the confusion in Steve's eyes that he simply didn't understand a word he'd said. Danny closed his eyes, took a deep breath and said, "Please get yourself away from here to safety, Steve. _Please_."

Then he started wiggling, pushing his hands against Steve's chest, pulling Steve's arms away from his back. Confused, Steve let him go, and Danny slid down his body until his feet touched the ground. He turned, backed right up against Steve's front, and held up his hands, tossing the weapon aside as he did so.

"You can have me, but let him go," Danny said, knowing that wouldn't go over real well.

"Detective Williams, walk away from it."

"_Him_, you Neanderthal, and it's—" Danny's body tensed. "—_Lieutenant_!" he finished, turning and shoving Steve away as a chopper flew overhead, spotlight illuminating them.

Danny had hoped Green Steve would run, but as was par for the course - and, he would later muse, he _really_ should've known better - nothing was easy where his partner was concerned. Steve roared, grabbing desperately for Danny as every SEAL's gun raised and leveled directly at them.

But Danny saw something in the light from the helicopter that the SEAL team didn't know was there. He grinned, and allowed Steve to pull him close, snapping the smaller man back into his huge body like puzzle pieces clicking into place. Steve growled, one large hand flat over Danny's chest, covering the majority of it as he bared his teeth at the SEALs.

"You know," Danny said conversationally and really, he was going to have to have a talk with Steve about the whole manhandling business at some point, "it never occurred to me until right now that while you SEAL boys are trained to do everything from withstand torture, to taking on a whole country on your own, there's one thing that you're not trained for."

"Williams, if you're not away from him in ten seconds, you're going down with him," the Team Leader barked.

"See, it's the same thing Steve wasn't prepared for when he transferred to the reserves and stayed here in Hawaii," Danny continued, ignoring the Team Leader's command. "He got blindsided by it, and, uh…well, don't look now, boys, but you're about to, too."

And then all hell broke loose.

_Ohana_, Danny wished he'd had a chance to say to the damn SEALs. Truth be told, the fierce loyalty and undercurrent of unconditional love had blindsided Danny just as much as it had Steve, and now? Now their _ohana_ was here saving their asses.

Danny could barely keep track of who was where, other than the fact that the big green guy was glued to him. He scrambled to grab his gun from the lush grass beneath their feet just as a smoke bomb was tossed into their midst. Then there was gunfire. Danny swore he heard a bullet whiz right past his ear before Steve picked him up again and charged forward.

Danny couldn't see a thing for all the smoke, but he recognized the SUV the team was using as Steve barreled past it. "Whoa, whoa, hey, Super SEAL, _stop_!" Danny yelled into his ear above the cacophony around them.

Steve skidded to a halt. "Go back that way," Danny waved in the general direction of the SUV.

They turned and Steve made it back to the side of the vehicle just as Catherine appeared near the hood, quickly dropping a spent clip from her weapon and reloading. Then she looked up. Her eyes met Danny's as he clung to Steve's neck. Then they shifted to Steve himself.

Large brown eyes grew larger. Her jaw dropped as the sounds of gunfire faded but didn't stop altogether.

"Danny!" Chin yelled as he, Kono and Mary Ann raced out of the smoke to the vehicle. "Get him in, _now_!"

Catherine shook herself out of it and climbed into the front passenger side. Chin was in the driver's seat before Danny could blink. Kono and Mary were on the passenger side, back seat door wide open as they scrambled into the third row, leaving Danny to try and convince Steve to get into the second row.

"Come on, come on, sit in there," Danny said, pointing to the open back seat door.

Steve looked at it, then back at Danny with the cocking of his head like a puppy dog that was becoming all-too-familiar.

"Put me down, dammit!" Danny groused, wiggling around so Steve would let him go. When he did, Danny grabbed his hand and pulled him to the door. He backed into the vehicle, pulling Steve along with him, until finally Steve was fully inside, though not quite sitting properly on the seat.

He was too big for Danny to reach around and grab the door, so Chin just took off, door banging on its hinges as he peeled away from the Hawaii Theater for Youth's parking lot and went screeching down Emma Street. He made a far too fast left onto Vineyard, nearly throwing Steve out the door.

Kono grabbed hold of Steve's left bicep, while Danny held tightly to Steve's right wrist. Steve roared, definitely unhappy about being tossed around the vehicle and held down, but Danny rubbed his thumb gently on the back of Steve's wrist, calming him enough that Kono was able to move forward and pull the door shut behind him.

Danny pushed, pulled and prodded Steve until he was seated on the short second row bench seat as Chin maneuvered them onto the Lunalilo Freeway heading northwest. It was only when he looked up after encouraging Steve – who was way too tall even sitting down for the cab of the SUV – to lean sideways into him, that he realized Catherine was seeing this for the first time.

And she'd turned white as a sheet.

"He's…that's…" She eyed the tattoo she could see on his right bicep, and reached a tentative hand out.

Steve grunted, his eyes glued to her. She jerked her hand back at the sound.

"It's okay, he won't hurt you," Mary said from where she was hanging over the back of the seat between Danny and Steve.

"Steve?" Cat whispered, fingertips moving closer to his arm.

She was surprised when his own hand reached toward hers, a look of wonder on his face when their fingers touched. His hand swallowed hers whole when he grasped it, and his eyes bored deeply into Cat's.

"He knows who you are," Kono breathed.

"I didn't…"

Suddenly Steve let out a menacing growl, released Cat's hand and seem to shrink back into the seat. Kono looked between Danny's surprised face and Cat's frown. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Danny shook his head, studying how Steve watched Cat like she was a potential threat. Even morphed, the faces he pulled were pretty much the same as when he was in human form. "Steve?" he said, laying a hand on the tattered jeans over his partner's gigantic thigh.

"Guys, we managed to find a spot to hide out, but I'm trying to dodge two choppers here. Any suggestions?" Chin asked from the driver's seat.

Steve leaned further down to his left until his head was resting on top of Danny's. Danny gave a long-suffering sigh, but was still concerned over why Steve had suddenly turned from recognizing Catherine to practically _snuggling_ into Danny.

Still and all, Steve seemed to not feel Cat was too much of a threat, because his eyes drifted closed as Danny said to Chin, "How far are we from the place you guys secured?"

"We've got a house in Kaneohe, thanks to Kamekona, and we're looking at about half an hour assuming I can take the direct route."

"Take the indirect route, Chin," Kono advised. "Give Steve a chance to come back."

Chin nodded curtly and got off the freeway onto Pali Highway, several exits before he normally would've. Kono managed to get into Danny's line of sight. "What happened back there? Why did Steve hulk out?"

"Wo Fat killed the governor," Danny replied, getting a gasp out of Kono and Mary Ann, and a look of disbelief from Chin in the rearview mirror. "When he tried to kill me, Steve took the bullet and morphed."

"Holy shit," Kono breathed.

"Did he kill Wo Fat?" Chin asked.

"No," Danny said, feeling a sense of satisfaction well up inside him. "That was me."

"Good on you, _brah_," Kono said, reaching out to fistbump him. "At least he's gone for good."

"Yeah, but unfortunately for Steve we still don't really have the answers he needs, although I now have a working theory about why the Navy experimented on him."

The sounds of the helicopters had begun to fade away.

"What theory is that, Danny?" Chin asked.

Steve began to glow. Catherine watched, mesmerized, and Danny began to explain.

* * *

><p>The circuitous route to their safe house consisted of taking Pali Highway northwest all the way to Kamehameha Highway, and then hitting Likelike Highway until at last they'd reached their destination: a beige-colored house on Mapele Way.<p>

Steve was human again and had literally passed out from exhaustion, taking up most of the short bench seat with his head tucked onto Danny's shoulder. Chin and Kono double-checked that the house truly was safe before the rest of them even moved.

They managed to rouse Steve enough to get him into the two-story home. The back of it was only a hundred feet from the road, and it had a carport rather than a garage. They walked up a ramp, obviously built for a disabled occupant at some point in the house's history. That led to a sliding glass door and then they bundled Steve up the steps to the second floor, where he fell into the first bed they found and snored away.

Catherine stayed on the edge of the bed, alternatively running a hand over Steve's arm and carding her fingers through his hair, while Mary got Danny into the bathroom, where she began to clean his bullet wound. Kono and Chin hovered in the doorway for a few minutes. "I'm going to go ditch the SUV," Chin finally said. "That car that's under the tarp out there, I'm assured works."

"I'll double-check it, Cuz," Kono offered. "You got things here, Boss?" she asked Danny.

Danny didn't feel like he had any 'things' at all. He just felt like he wanted to sleep for a hundred years, give or take, but he nodded and attempted a smile, then hissed in pain as Mary decided dabbing his wound with alcohol was the next logical step in disinfecting it.

"Dammit!" Danny swore.

Mary actually seemed a little sorry, for a fraction of a second, then she grinned. "No pain, no gain?"

"You, _you_, are a menace," Danny bitched, drawing an even bigger smile from her as the cousins disappeared back into the hall and down the steps.

* * *

><p>Kono and Chin had fallen asleep on the huge King-sized bed in the master bedroom. Danny and Mary had each taken one of the twin beds in another room, and Steve and Catherine slept on in the third room that completed the home's second floor.<p>

The house's alarm was set, but Chin still slept with a shotgun in his hand. Kono held a rifle in hers. Mary had even gotten a gun for herself, and Danny still had hold of the one he'd used to kill Wo Fat.

No one slept dreamlessly, but at least they slept.

* * *

><p>Steve was the first one awake the next morning. He was seated at a desk in a first-floor office when Danny shuffled in, hair soft and wavy and sticking up in more directions than a compass even contained.<p>

"I don't suppose they left us any coffee in this place," he grumbled as Steve turned to face him.

"I've come to a decision," Steve said, rising to his feet.

Danny's eyes narrowed, no longer requiring coffee to be fully alert. "Oh, you have, have you? Why do I think I'm not going to like this?"

"Probably not," Steve said. "But I know what I have to do."

"Oh, yeah? And what is that?"

Steve went rigid as though fully expecting some sort of physical attack from his partner as he replied, "I'm going to turn myself in to the Navy."


	18. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

"That's it. I have proof. You are, _literally_, insane, McGarrett. Turn yourself _in_?" Danny's face was twisted in fury. "Over my dead _body_."

Agitated, Steve folded his arms over his chest. "You don't have a say in this."

"The _hell_ I don't." Danny took three steps forward and jabbed his finger into Steve's sternum. "You asshole, you'd turn yourself in after what we went through to get you _out_ of their clutches?"

"I have something now that I didn't have before, Danny. I'm _prepared_ now." Steve stepped to the side and swept his hand in a wide gesture toward the desktop computer screen that sat atop the desk he'd been at.

Catherine entered the room as Danny peered at the monitor and recognized the side-by-side digital images. "The files Tamara brought us, so what?"

"Leverage," Steve replied as Catherine came to stand next to his partner. "I give them an ultimatum: they let us all off the hook, no dishonorable discharges," he said with a glance at Catherine, "and they find a cure for me. Either that or every page of this hits the _Star-Advertiser_."

"Steve, have you lost your mind?" Catherine seethed, moving forward and glaring at him. "Once they get you back, they're not going to let you go! They're not going to let _any_ of us go!"

Steve's eyes flicked to Catherine, and Danny saw something – if ever asked, he wasn't sure he could describe _what_, exactly – skitter across Steve's face as he did. A flicker, a chink in the armor, like maybe Steve was remembering something…

"They will if they think we're going to expose their secrets," Steve insisted.

Danny shook his head. "We don't have enough information yet." His eyes met Steve's. "Didn't you hear what Wo Fat said to me? He said it wasn't Stan involved in this." A little line appeared between Steve's eyebrows as he chewed on that. "It's _Rachel_, Steve," Danny finished quietly.

Steve's eyes widened.

"Even if the Navy agrees to every one of your demands, even if we're all free and clear, you think this is going to end? Until we know what role Rachel's played in all this, we can't know for sure we won't all still be in danger."

"He's right," Cat added, voice softer as she took Steve's hand. "We're in this together."

Steve slowly pulled his away from her. "None of you should even be involved in this. Even if Rachel's part of this somehow, or Stan, or whoever else, the fact is that I've already made my decision."

"You don't get to make decisions for _me_," Danny fumed.

"Or me," Chin said firmly, striding into the room with Kono by his side. They were followed by a Mary Ann whose bedhead looked arguably worse than Danny's in the morning.

"Ditto," Kono added.

Steve looked at Mary Ann, but she said nothing. "Well?"

She snorted. "Please."

"What're you gonna to do, Steven?" Danny asked, voice bordering on a whisper. "You gonna take us all down?"

The double entendre wasn't lost on Steve. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes for a moment. "I guess it's your asses as much as it is mine."

"You think? Christ, Steve, what the hell?" Danny growled. "And all before I've even had _coffee_, for God's sake."

Steve huffed out a laugh. "How's your shoulder?"

"Hurts like a bitch," he replied, glancing back at Mary Ann. "But your sister makes a pretty good nurse."

"I don't know about you," Kono piped up as she turned to head out of the room, "but I need a shower."

"Good idea," Catherine said, looking into Steve's eyes pointedly. "We're next."

Steve shot her a look Danny couldn't decipher as Chin tried to stifle his grin. "I, uh…think I'll wait 'til after you're done."

"We're after you, then," Mary said, shooting Danny a smoldering look.

Danny's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "_We?_"

Mary laughed. "Figure of speech."

"Riiiiiight," Steve said, muscles twitching almost imperceptibly as Catherine drew close. "But after everyone's gotten themselves cleaned up, we need to come up with a plan of action and first thing," he said, looking at Danny, face growing serious, "is Grace."

Danny flinched. "What about her?"

"Well, if your ex is involved in all this," Mary said, waving a hand around, "don't we need to make sure your kid's out of harm's way before we do…whatever it is we're going to do?"

"That would be my preference," Danny nodded. He looked from her to Steve. "You have a plan that doesn't involve going it alone?"

Steve rolled his eyes. "I'll think about it." Then he looked down at Cat. "Can you give us a minute?" he asked, indicating himself and Danny with a wave of his hand.

"Sure," she said, reaching up on tiptoe to give him a quick kiss. "Come on, sis," she said to Mary Ann.

"Aw, I want to hear," Mary Ann whined, but allowed Cat to pull her out of the office. "And do not ever call me 'sis' again. I'm serious."

Catherine laughed as they disappeared into the hall. Chin stopped at the door and looked back at them.

"'s okay, Chin," Steve said with a nod.

Chin nodded back, and closed the door behind him.

"All right, now you're scaring me," Danny said, warily watching the man before him.

Steve leaned back against the desk. "Danny…"

"What? What is it?"

"What if it turns out Rachel…I mean, what if she…"

"You mean, what if it turns out she really was working with Wo Fat, or the governor, or your dad, or any of the rest of them?"

Steve clamped his mouth shut and nodded.

"I can't even think about what this could mean," Danny admitted, pacing away and then closer, stopping with his good hand resting over his bullet wound as he took a deep breath. "I can't wrap my head around the fact that the mother of my child, the woman I was ridiculously in love with and made that perfect little girl with…who's _raising_ that little girl…could have anything to do with your family's history."

Steve snorted. "Why, because it connects us as more than partners?"

The corners of Danny's eyes crinkled fondly. "We're already connected as more than partners, you idiot." Steve ducked his head and Danny laughed outright at the pinking of his ears.

"Turn yourself in. Leave us all swinging in the breeze. Sometimes I wonder about you, my friend."

Steve shook his head, stupid smile still plastered to his face.

Danny sighed. "But you know, Wo Fat could've been lying."

Steve's smile disappeared. "As much of a bastard as he was, he never lied to me," he pointed out.

"True enough," Danny replied. "But we need to find out, Steve. I need to know if I was nothing more than a pawn in all this, and if so, _why_. I mean, even _you_ asked me how I got someone like Rachel, and it wasn't until that night we were staked out at her place that I even found out she'd hit my car on _purpose_. Think about it: why would a refined Brit whose family has more money than God, come on to a workaday beat cop, marry him, have his kid, and then divorce him and take up with someone her father knew?"

"And move to Hawaii where my dad happened to live and where Wo Fat was expanding operations and where Pat Jameson had become governor," Steve added.

"It does seem contrived. But _why_, is what I want to know. I have nothing to offer someone like that, nothing that'll get her anywhere."

"Maybe the one thing she didn't count on was you following them all the way here," Steve offered.

"So me actually being here instead of five thousand miles away out of her hair was nothing more than an inconvenience?"

"It's possible. Might be why she was so nasty about the whole custody thing there at the beginning."

"And then just like that, six months later I'm working with you and suddenly the two sides of her world collide," Danny mused.

"Seems to be way too big a coincidence."

"Yeah," Danny nodded. His eyes darted to the closed door and then back to Steve. "What's with you and Cat all of a sudden?"

Steve frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You have tells, my friend. When you first saw her back on the plane, and in every moment since, you've been playing the part of the big goof who said 'I love you' at a truly inopportune moment."

A faint blush crept up Steve's neck.

"But then the last time you were morphed, in the SUV, it was like something changed."

"Changed how?"

"Like…" Danny ran a hand through his hair, which did nothing for its current state of bedhead, and puffed out a breath. He looked at his partner again, at the look on his face that said Steve truly had no idea what he was talking about. "Like suddenly you…well, the big and green you…didn't trust her. Now every time she gets close to you, you…I don't know…get all…stiff."

Steve's eyebrows shot up and now it was Danny's turn to blush. "Christ, will you get your mind out of the gutter? I'm serious, Steve! I know how to read people, and I _really_ know how to read you. And something's _off_ where you and the lovely Lieutenant are concerned."

Steve was back to leaning against the desk, and chewed on his lip thoughtfully.

"What's going on in that twisted brain of yours?"

"What'd your family do, Danny? You know, your parents. Your dad was a fireman, right?"

Leave it to Steve to avoid the Catherine subject so completely.

"Yeah," Danny nodded. "Pop's retired on a pension now. Mom was a nurse."

"We know about Matt," Steve said, and he saw a shadow of pain pass briefly over Danny's face. "What about your other siblings?"

"Three sisters, there were five of us in total. Ruthie's a school teacher, Judy's a cop and Ezzie's got her own flower shop." Danny shook his head. "My family's so normal – well, except for Matt, maybe – that it's disgusting."

"Okay, so let's look at Matt."

"Do we have to?" Danny scowled.

"Well, for starters, how old is he?"

"Me first, then Ruthie, then Matt. Judy's second-to-last and Ezzie – Esther's her real name – is the baby. Ruthie's eighteen months younger than me, so right now she's thirty-three. Matt came two years later, makes him thirty-one."

"And how old is Rachel?"

"She's thirty-two, almost thirty-three…what's with the age questions?"

"Just trying to place everyone in the timeline," Steve replied, biting his lip again. He seemed to be looking at some vague point in the distance. Danny recognized it as the Deep Thoughts face that would sometimes lead to great insight but was equally likely to lead to profundities regarding Hawaiian pizza depending on the day. "All right, so we know Matt fled with the money, presumably left the country. And we've kept our ears to the ground but haven't heard anything at all about his whereabouts since."

"Not a _thing_. The FBI's come sniffing around a couple times at Rachel's since then claiming some sort of evidence about—" Danny's jaw dropped and he staggered backwards, felt his chest heave and heave and heave as breathing became more and more difficult. Time seemed to stop altogether and something like the mother of all anvils felt like it was sitting on his chest. His eyes filled with tears and he looked up at Steve like a drowning man, reaching out for him as the panic attack hit him full force. "Oh….oh, God…" he panted.

Steve had him eased into the desk chair within seconds, and pushed his head down between his legs. His hand rubbed Danny's back in slow, sweeping movements. "Breathe, Danny," he murmured. "In and out, slow it down."

Danny shook his head, thoughts scattering in every direction, wondering why the hell he hadn't put the pieces together before, how it was he hadn't connected what Agent Kipton had told him last time he'd come from interviewing Rachel and Step-Stan.

"_Detective Williams, you may have a hard time believing this, but I don't have some sort of vendetta against your family. I'm just trying to make sure they don't have a vendetta against you."_

"Danny, come on, tell me. I'm here. Talk to me."

Danny twisted his head to look up at Steve and held his gaze, subconsciously mirroring Steve's slow, regular breathing pattern until he was able to sit up and keep himself together. "Lost my shit there," he tried to joke.

"Whatever you're about to tell me just screwed your brain halfway to the mainland," Steve said, hand resting between his partner's shoulder blades. "So you're allowed to lose your shit as long as you actually _do_ tell me what it is you lost your shit _over_."

Danny nodded and now it was his turn to bite his lip. "Agent Kipton was back interviewing Rachel and Stan last month, then he came to see me."

"You didn't tell me that!"

"Didn't want you to go lying to the FBI again," Danny said with a mirthless chuckle.

Steve shook his head. "And?"

"And," Danny continued, "when I asked him why the fuck he couldn't leave my family alone, he said they'd uncovered some evidence that linked Matt's failed business dealings with Step-Stan."

"_What?_"

"I told him he was nuts. I was convinced he was just out to get Matt, that he was pissed about your misdirection and me letting him get away."

"Jesus Christ, Danny. Are you saying…holy _shit_."

"That my brother might be in on this, too?" Danny ran a hand through his hair.

Steve noticed that hand shaking and cupped his fingers around the back of Danny's neck. "Well, sounds like your family's as fucked up as mine, Partner. Welcome to the club."

"What club is that, huh?" Danny asked, shaking Steve off and jumping to his feet so he could pace the floor. "Club Fucked-Up-The-Ass?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Steve nodded. "Jesus, Danny, your _brother_?"

"Look at it this way. I didn't think he could be an actual criminal at all, but he proved me wrong on that. Why not everything else, too?"

Steve couldn't think of anything to say, so he just folded his arms over his chest and looked down at the floor.

"Steve," Danny said softly, drawing his eyes up. "If any of this turns out to be true, I _need_ my daughter out of their house. I need to know she's safe. She's my _baby_," he finished desperately.

"O-Of course, Danny, I mean…" Steve faltered, stopped, ran a hand through his hair nervously and turned away from his friend to lean forward onto the desk. "I really do want us to get Grace away from Rachel before we go poking around, but me, Danny, I'm…" Steve took a deep breath and turned pained eyes to his partner's. "I'm a _monster_. You can't let me around Grace." Danny opened his mouth but Steve held up a hand to stop him. "Once we get her, you and Mary…you should take Grace somewhere away from me."

"What? Why would I want to do that? I _told_ you that you're not doing this alone, what, turning green make you stupid or something?" Danny asked, trying to rap his knuckles against Steve's skull.

Steve grabbed Danny's wrist and held on as he stared at him. "Danny, if I change when Grace is around, it'll scar her for life, and…I could _hurt_ her!"

Danny gazed back evenly, shaking his head slowly. "You won't hurt her, Steve. Any more than you'll hurt me or Mary or any of us. You _know_ you won't hurt her."

"You can't know that! What if I go on a tear, throwing furniture around, and hurt her _that_ way, even though I don't mean to?"

"You. Won't. Hurt. Her." Danny took a deep breath and lifted his right arm, a jab of pain shooting down into it as he did. Resting his hand over Steve's heart, unable to stop thinking about the bleeding hole he'd seen there, about how sure he was that even as the Hulk, Steve wasn't going to survive that shot. "You know I would rather die than put her in harm's way. Right now, I'm worried she's in more danger with _Rachel_ with all this shit hitting the fan than she is with you. You _know_ I'd never even _consider_ bringing her around you if I thought something would go wrong."

"I kill when I'm hulked out," Steve said stubbornly, trying to sidestep Danny's touch.

But Danny moved right with him. "You didn't kill anyone at the governor's," Danny reminded him. "I'm the one who killed Wo Fat, and I was fully and completely human at the time. Steve, listen to me," he whispered, curling his fingertips into Steve's shirt. "You won't kill unnecessarily when you're the Hulk because Steve _McGarrett_ doesn't kill unnecessarily."

Danny let that sink in for a few moments until Steve seemed to come down off his worry just a bit.

"Besides, Grace will probably think it's cool that you really _are_ a superhero."

Steve barked out a laugh, then rubbed the back of his neck as Danny let go of his shirt.

"Now come on, let's go get you cleaned up, you smell like a garbage truck."

"Oh, and you smell like a perfume counter?"

"As a matter of fact, I have a very manly, musky scent going on here," Danny said, waving his hand around himself in an all-encompassing gesture.

"Is that what they're calling it these days?"

Steve opened the door and headed out, still calling Danny on his bullshit.

Danny smiled. As long as he could continue to get Steve back to bantering, things would be okay. Sure, their world had gone from messed up to FUBAR in the blink of an eye if he and Steve were right about Matt's involvement. And truth be told, he _was_ worried about Grace, worried about Steve hulking out around her, but who wouldn't be? Yet Danny was also firm in his conviction that even big green Steve, who didn't seem to understand the majority of what was said to him, would die trying to protect Grace like he would any of his _ohana_. Because Grace was as much a part of that as Danny was.

Of course, the whole thing would take an awful lot of explaining, he thought grimly as they made their way upstairs, and Grace was smart but she was only ten, for Chrissakes. Then again, if it turned out Rachel and Matt were as dirty as Wo Fat or the governor, Danny would have a lot more to worry about explaining to his daughter than the fact that Uncle Steve turned into a comic book character with a few less brain cells than a toddler.

Like that whole thing about not knowing how to open a door properly back at Jameson's residence and having to kick it open instead.

_Well,_ Danny thought with a smirk, _some __things __are __the __same __after __all._

* * *

><p><em>Terms:<em>

_FUBAR_ – Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition _or_ Fucked Up Beyond All Repair _or_ Fucked Up Beyond All Reason (take your pick)


	19. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER NINETEEN**

"I think the theme of the past two days is Danny the Guinea Pig."

Mary snorted a laugh but Steve threw a concerned glance his partner's way. "If you want to do this differently, Danny, just say the word."

"No, no." Danny flapped his hand in the air.

They were using a dark blue Mazda 3 four-door that had been left under a tarp in the safe house's driveway. Chin had run the plates through back channel hacking only to find the car was registered to one of Kamekona's cousins currently doing twenty at Halawa for armed robbery. Steve was behind the wheel, Danny in the passenger seat, and Mary and Catherine shared the back.

"Chin and Kono are meeting up with Jenna in half an hour," Steve said, hanging up the phone. "She just got back from the mainland and has been briefed."

"So what's she think of your little green man?" Danny asked with a sidelong glance.

Steve pursed his lips, then replied, "We left that part out."

"Oh, great, yet another person to freak out, then."

"So your kid, she knows Chin and Kono?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, we've hung out together before. The football game, for one," Danny replied.

"And you two have been over for team barbecues a lot," Steve reminded him.

"And then there was the surfing competition you insisted I bring her to."

"Well, Kono won! You'd have thought Grace was responsible for it, the way she cheered!"

Danny chuckled softly at the memory. "Yeah, she loves you guys."

"Well, she sounds like a great kid," Catherine said.

"She is. I just…I hope…shit."

"We'll figure this out, Danny. Believe me when I say I hope what we're thinking isn't true, okay?"

"Yeah," Danny breathed. He felt a touch on his good shoulder and scrunched his face up as he turned to look at Mary. "Handsy."

"You complaining?"

Danny grunted, but didn't say a word as he turned back around to face the front. Mary and Catherine shared a look and broad grins as they continued toward the Edwards home in Kalaha. Danny looked at his watch and frowned.

"They'll make it to her school in time to pick her up before Rachel's driver gets there," Steve assured him.

"I know, I _know_," Danny grumbled. He looked at the palms of his hands, then the backs of them. "How do we know we can trust her, Steve?"

"Trust who?" he asked, glancing over at his partner.

"Jenna," Danny replied. "I mean…I don't know, she spent all that time tracking Wo Fat, she shows up in your office with something from your dad's Champ box, I just…" Danny's voice trailed off. He swallowed hard. Mary squeezed his shoulder. "I just don't know who to trust anymore outside of our little group, you know?"

"I wondered about that too, Danny. Which is why we're sending Jenna off to get her hands on information, background stuff. And why I didn't tell her about…you know, what happens to me." He paused as he made a right turn onto Hunakai Street. "We told her the governor and Wo Fat are dead, though I'm sure she knew that much already on her own. But we didn't tell her anything about our suspicions regarding Rachel or Matt."

Danny nodded. "I hope this scheme of yours works," he said as they neared Rachel's street. "Because Christ, Steve."

"Mary and Cat have our backs, and, you know, if any of us are in any danger, I'll probably morph anyway."

"It does seem like that's when it happens," Danny agreed, nodding thoughtfully. "It's like when you go all batshit in the field when someone threatens one of your team, only on steroids."

"_Green_ steroids," Mary corrected. Steve shot her a look. "I'm immune," she said, raising an eyebrow.

Way too soon for Danny's liking, they were pulling up to the gate in front of the Edwards house. Steve put the car in Park and got out with Danny. Catherine and Mary got out of the back seat and slid into the front, Cat behind the wheel.

"All right," Catherine said, rolling down the window as Steve leaned his hands on the frame and bent down, "we'll circle down and around and make sure you guys got in, then we'll park right around the corner and wait to hear from you."

"Give us thirty minutes, and if neither of you has received a text message from one of us, come in with guns blazing."

"Aye-aye, sir," Catherine said with a mock-salute and a grin.

Danny was waiting by the intercom just outside the gate. Steve patted the roof of the car twice and the women pulled away. "You get hold of Toast?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, I've put him on tracing Matt. I just wish I'd asked him to do it a lot sooner."

"Don't beat yourself up, Danny. You were just trying to _not_ know so you wouldn't have to act on any information you _did_ get."

Danny inhaled, then let out a long, slow sigh.

"Thank you," Steve said suddenly.

"For what?"

Steve looked away. "For getting rid of Wo Fat."

"Wait, you…you remember that? But you were hulked-out."

"I don't remember exactly what happened," Steve admitted, eyes meeting Danny's. "But I know you shot him."

Danny nodded once. "The pleasure was all mine, Partner. Trust me."

Steve gave him a little half-smile.

"Here goes nothing," Danny said, looking back at the intercom and jabbing at the call button.

"_Yes?"_

"Yeah, will you please let Rachel know that Danny's here?"

"_One moment, please."_

Danny rocked back on his heels. Steve watched him carefully. While Steve was used to dealing with fucked up family matters, Danny's only exposure to it thus far had been Matt, who'd been gone pretty quickly after Danny found out the truth. A truth which, depending on what they could get out of Rachel, may have been as false as the life Matt had led everyone to believe he was living.

"_Danny, what are you doing here in the middle of the afternoon?"_

"Rach, Steve's with me. We, uh…we need to talk to you. It's business."

There was no response save for the large, black gate opening slowly inward. The two men started walking up the driveway. "Well, we're in," Steve said. "You ready?"

Danny stuffed his hands into his pockets. "No."

"I'm taking point."

Danny didn't argue.

* * *

><p>Cups of tea were slowly sipped in the parlor, three pairs of eyes exchanging glances at odd intervals.<p>

"So where's Stan?" Danny asked nonchalantly.

"Business trip," Rachel replied tersely. "I'm certain, however, that you and your partner didn't stop by unannounced to ask me Stan's whereabouts."

"No, actually, we didn't, you're right," Steve said, setting his cup and saucer down on the coffee table and leaning back in the chair. He crossed his ankle over his knee casually and looked into Rachel's eyes as she lowered her cup. "What we really came here to ask you has to do more with your father than your husband."

Steve felt Danny stiffen slightly beside him but didn't take his eyes off Rachel.

"My father?" Rachel repeated, placing her cup down on the table across from Steve's. "What on earth do you want to know about my father that Danny doesn't already know? And, more to the point, _why_?"

"Well," Steve said, changing posture and leaning forward with his elbows on his thighs, "all Danny really knows is that your dad made lots of money in land development deals, and that you met Stan through him."

Rachel turned icy eyes to her ex-husband. Danny returned the glare. "That's correct," she said.

"And he's met him a couple times, but the man never talked business in front of Danny."

"If this is about my father's business, perhaps it's him you should be speaking with."

"We don't have jurisdiction in England," Steve replied with a smile and a shrug.

Rachel took a deep breath and looked between the two men. "All right. What is it you want to know?"

Steve was so glad Danny had agreed to let him take point on this one. He could feel the tension rolling off his partner from three feet away and knew there was no way Danny would be able to keep his emotions in check if he was trying to question his ex.

"Well, for starters, we're interested in one particular summit that happened back in December of '75," Steve said.

"Good heavens, Commander, I wasn't even born yet! How would I know anything of what occurred that year?"

"Oh, I think you know something about it," Steve said, voice dripping with sweetness. "In fact, I'm pretty sure you know at least one of the men who attended that conference with your father, and I know for certain that you're acquainted with Governor Jameson."

"You mean _the__late_ Governor Jameson?" Rachel asked bitingly. "The one you and my ex-husband _murdered_?"

It was all Steve could do not to flinch. Danny went positively rigid at the blunt accusation.

"Yes, gentlemen, I know. I _know_ because it's all over the news. In fact, between the time you rang me at the gate and the time I opened my front door to you, I called the cavalry. So whatever else it is you want to know, you'd better ask in the next minute." She turned to look at Danny. "How could you _do_ this to _Grace_?" she seethed.

Steve tensed as Danny rose to his feet. He knew the look on Danny's face…the set of his jaw…the seemingly relaxed stance that reeked of coiled tension just waiting to open up a can on someone.

"The question, Rachel, is how could _you_ do this to Grace?" Danny countered, voice low and more menacing than Steve thought he'd ever heard it. "You see, you're not the only one who knows something. Shall I fill you in?" he asked, voice dripping honey, rubbing his hands together and pacing away. He pivoted and whirled on her and God help her, Steve actually saw her flinch. "Yes, I think we should fill my darling, sweet ex-wife in, Steve, and we can do it in less than a minute, don't you agree?"

Steve nodded and got to his feet, moving to stand closer to Danny. At this point, he wouldn't blame his partner for lunging forward and wringing Rachel's neck, but he also knew once Danny cooled down he'd be horrified at having done so.

"So I'll lay it out for you, Rach, and you know, if you've got anyone else on your speed dial, you might want to give them a call, too, and let them know the jig's up."

Steve pulled out his phone and texted Cat to wait where they were, that he and Danny would be showing up on foot in just a few minutes.

"Your father was in league with Steve's father," he began, jabbing a finger at McGarrett, "and Pat Jameson and Wo Fat. Now, admittedly, John probably started off as nothing more than a security detail for Jameson, but it became way more than that, and fast. That little group of people stuck together even though your father returned to England. It gave Wo Fat a foothold in that country and his deals and money combined with Wo Fat's put Jameson right where everyone wanted her: in a place of power as Governor of Hawaii. Am I right so far?"

Rachel said nothing, but didn't take her eyes off him.

"And then let's go back to _our_ meeting. You so playfully, with a twinkle in your eye, even, told me you ran into my car on purpose that day, something which you had failed to mention in all the time we dated, in all the time we were married or at any time during our divorce. Yeah, you ran into me on purpose all right, and it's taken me a minute or two to figure out why. Why would the daughter of a wealthy land developer, some British upper-middle class woman, be in Jersey to begin with? Why would she want to hit on a short, loud-mouthed beat cop like me? What the hell could I _possibly_ have to offer a woman like that? Even _Steve_ wondered how the hell I'd gotten someone like you!"

Steve winced. He hadn't meant to make it sound _that_ bad.

"And then it comes to me, Rach. It comes to me like that—" Danny snapped his fingers "—that there was my brother, young at the time, sure, but fresh off making his second multi-million dollar deal. He was Big Man already, and was working at putting together his own hedge fund company and _voila!_ You show up on the scene. I was so easy, wasn't I, Rach? So fucking easy because I was wide open, desperate, and you were beautiful, perfect, everything a working guy like me never thought he'd find, especially not in the Armpit of America, huh?"

Steve knew this was going to get out of hand quickly, and if Rachel had told the truth, the 'cavalry' should—Steve stopped and looked out the windows. There wasn't a single sign of movement. There were no sirens. No chopper blades. No vehicle engines. Nothing. Steve texted Catherine again. 'Any sign of activity anywhere around Edwards house?'

Two seconds later, her response came. 'Not even a breeze.'

"Danny, nobody's coming," Steve interjected as Danny opened his mouth to speak.

"What?"

"Rachel didn't call anyone."

"All right, have it your way," she said, rising to her feet. "What other accusations do you wish to make, Daniel? Does it make it easier for you to think I'm the bad guy here? Is that what this is about? Easing your conscience before you go off to prison for the rest of your life for killing the Governor of Hawaii?"

"I didn't _kill_ the governor!" Danny bellowed. "Wo Fat did that! And I _know_ you know who he was, don't _even_ try to tell me you don't!"

"Fine. I knew him," she spat. "Happy?"

Danny seemed to deflate. Steve moved a fraction closer. Danny shook his head, his whole face echoing nothing but sadness. "No, Rach. I'm not happy. I'm not happy that you used me to get access to my brother. I'm not happy you married me to keep that access, that you and Matt had something going without anyone in our family being the wiser. I'm not happy that we brought a little girl into the middle of the world's biggest lie."

Normally in a situation like this Danny would be winding up to the mother of all rants, but to Steve, he just looked…defeated.

"All of this was a goddamn setup. Everything from us to our divorce to Matt's disappearance to you getting together with Stan and moving here. Wasn't it."

It wasn't a question because Danny already knew the answer, deep down. Steve wished he could take Danny's pain away and in that instant vowed that somehow, he would.

Rachel closed her eyes briefly, and when she reopened them they were full of unshed tears. "I had to do what Father wanted of me."

"No, you didn't!" Danny hissed.

"I did, and I'll tell you why. Because your brother isn't who you think he is, Danny. Not at all. We needed to get him back into the fold, needed to tell him the truth, because Wo Fat required a hand on the east coast, so it was time to activate Matthew."

"Back into the fold?" Steve repeated.

"Activate him?" Danny asked.

"Yes," Rachel nodded and then looked behind them.

Steve and Danny pivoted to face the door. Danny's face drained of all color as a man strode into the room. Steve's eyes went wide but he held his emotions in check.

"Matty?" Danny whispered.

"Danny, Commander," Rachel said from behind them as they heard the cocking of a gun. "Meet Matthew Stuart. My brother."


	20. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER TWENTY**

Steve hadn't hulked out.

Danny chalked that up to the fact that his inner green guy didn't perceive any immediate danger to their persons.

Which wasn't altogether true, Danny thought, given that his ex-wife and the man he'd gone through life believing was his brother both had guns trained on them. Other than that, it would've seemed to any outsider like this was nothing more than a small family reunion. Danny snorted at the thought, drawing a perfectly manicured eyebrow arch from Rachel.

"So that's how you could do what you did," Danny said, ignoring her for the moment. He eyed the cell phones and weapons the two had divested them of, that were now lying on an old-fashioned desk in the opposite corner, then his gaze moved to Matt. "When I asked how you could do this to your family, the stealing of money, the running off for parts unknown, it was because we _aren__'__t_ your family."

"Got it in one. You always were the smartest of that bunch," Matt replied, perching on the arm of the couch.

"You're such an animal, Matthew, sit down properly."

"That's what you and Father get for leaving me to be raised by a working class family," Matt said with a shrug.

Steve could practically see the steam pouring out of Danny's ears. "How is it you wound up with Danny's family, though?" Steve asked. "What did they have that the Stuarts found so attractive?"

"Nothing other than how banally normal they were," Rachel replied haughtily, shooting Danny a nasty look. To his credit, Danny didn't rise to the bait.

"Father and Mother were in the area for a conference," Matt explained, waving the gun around in the air. Evidently he'd picked up something of the Williams' family penchant for talking with their hands since he'd grown up with them. "I was six months old, and they saw this story on the news about Pete Williams being promoted to chief. They got a line on where he lived, observed the family for a couple weeks, and decided it was the right place to plant a sleeper."

"You," Danny ground out.

"Yep. Haven't you ever wondered why all the Williamses have blond hair and blue eyes but me?"

Danny looked away.

"So they staged a scene. Made it so the chief's first day on the job there was a house fire where no one survived but a baby boy. Because the family wasn't real, they were just bodies placed there for effect, there was no one to claim the baby."

Rachel picked up the story, a small smile on her face like she was proud of how clever her parents were. "Mary Williams fell in love with the infant and begged her husband to adopt him. And that's how Matthew became your little brother."

"When did you find out you weren't Mom and Pop's?" Danny asked and God, Steve hated the way his partner's voice came out. He sounded…wrecked.

"Oh, Rachel had already gotten you to propose to her by the time I knew anything," Matt replied easily, seemingly oblivious to the effect his words were having on Danny. Either that or he didn't give a flying fuck, Steve thought bitterly. "She used you to get close enough to me that I trusted her before springing the big You're Not Who You Think You Are story on me."

"What about after the divorce?" Danny asked, fighting so hard to keep his voice even. Too hard. It was starting to crack. "You sat with me for hours talking me through it, talking me down off the ledge."

"I was keeping you occupied," Matt said with a shrug. "There was something big going down and I had to keep you out of Rachel's hair."

"Stan," Danny said, and looked at Rachel. "Just another pawn or part of the game?"

Rachel and Matt exchanged a look, but neither of them answered the question.

"I was already established on the East Coast," Matt said, pride oozing from every pore. Steve found himself wishing he could hulk out just to scare the piss out of the jackass who was breaking Danny's heart more and more with every word. "And that was what Wo Fat needed, someone who knew the names of the big players on Wall Street, who could get cozy with them, give him the 'in' he wanted."

"And the whole thing with the money laundering when you were here and told me to shoot you or say good-bye?"

Matt gave Danny a smile that Steve would've given his right arm to wipe off his face for good. "Oh, I was helping launder money. And those guys were drug dealers. But it was Wo Fat's deal. Not mine."

There were several moments of silence. Steve watched Danny like a hawk, a fact not lost on Rachel and Matt, who glanced at each other a few times, both knowing just how deadly McGarrett could be. Their guns remained firmly trained on the man.

"So you just abandon the family who raised you, took care of you, bought you your first bike."

"Please," Matt scoffed, waving the gun around again. "I was never so happy in my _life_ than when I found out I wasn't really related to you."

Steve saw it happen. Saw the moment Danny's insides shattered. When everything he was, everything he'd always known and believed, and all the love he'd held in his heart for both Rachel and Matt just splintered and died. Steve's chest felt constricted as he watched it unfold in slow motion, a little piece of Danny just fading to nonexistence right there in the parlor of the Edwards home.

"Danny," Steve whispered, but his partner just looked down at the floor.

Shit. If Danny didn't stay in the game, this could get ugly real quick.

"Aw, he's heartbroken," Matt teased.

Danny didn't even twitch.

"Don't be cruel, Matthew," Rachel said. At least she looked like she cared a _little_. "After all, he _is_ Grace's father."

Suddenly Rachel's eyes widened. She glanced up at the clock on the wall and then double-checked the time on her watch. "Where is Grace?" Steve allowed himself a small smile as Rachel's face changed from confusion to concern. Her eyes snapped to his. "The driver should have had her here ten minutes ago. What have you done with my daughter?"

Steve raised his chin defiantly.

Rachel and Matt both jumped when the front doorbell rang. Matt hurried to the parlor entry, hovering there with his gun pointed back at Danny's head. Rachel went to the front door and opened it. She didn't recognize the women standing there.

"I'm sorry, how did you get past the gate?" she asked. "Who are you?"

"Oh, a gate's no big deal," one of the women replied and Steve allowed himself to crack and honest-to-goodness grin. He'd know that voice anywhere. "You know, I mean, not when you've got, like, little bombs and shit to open them up with."

"Bombs?" Rachel repeated.

In an instant there was the sound of shattering glass from elsewhere in the house. Steve was on his feet and racing across the room to get their phones and weapons, while Danny rose slowly to face Matt, who was still aiming his weapon directly at Danny's head.

"I suppose this is good-bye, _brother_," Matt smirked.

"You're right, asshole," Steve said from halfway across the room, one gun in each hand and both pointed at Matt. "It is."

"He'll be dead before you get a shot off," Matt countered.

Steve's eyes shifted just slightly. "I wouldn't bet on that."

A shot rang out, then the sound of scuffling. Chin and Kono raced in from the back of the mansion while Catherine wrestled Rachel to the ground, her gun clattering away across the foyer floor. Mary stood with her gun raised, smoke curling out of the end of it, as Matthew Stuart – once Matthew Williams – fell to the floor dead.

Danny just stood there and stared at the body. Steve was behind him in an instant. "Danny, come on, we've got to get out of here," he urged with a hand to his friend's back. "Come on."

Chin looked worriedly at their teammate, whose face was blank.

"Yeah, okay," Danny said.

"What are you going to do with me?" Rachel asked.

"Nothing," Kono replied, reaching down to haul Rachel off the floor, simultaneously offering a hand to Catherine and pulling her to her feet. "You're Grace's mother, after all."

Rachel's eyes welled up with tears. She looked imploringly at Danny. "Please don't tell her. Please, Danny."

"I'm not going to," Danny said flatly. "You are."

The look of fear on Rachel's face as Danny stepped past her and out the front door, followed by Rachel, Mary and Catherine, was one that Steve thought might just haunt him for a long, long time. But the lack of _any_ look on Danny's face was the thing that scared him the most.

Hopefully, seeing Grace would change that.

Hopefully.

* * *

><p>"Danno!"<p>

Steve breathed a sigh of relief. There was the 'Danno' that he knew. A bright smile, love shining from his eyes for the little girl who launched herself into his arms.

"Thanks, _braddah_," Steve said, fistbumping Kamekona at the sliding glass door of their safe house.

"Hey, my pleasure, you know? I like that kid, man, she's _kama'aina_." Kamekona pulled Steve out and down the long wheelchair ramp until they were standing near his white Jeep. "I don't mean to tell you your business, _brah_, but that spooky girl, Kaye?"

"What about her?"

"She stopped by my place earlier, right when Chin was texting me, asking me to take Grace off his hands so he could go save yours and the _haole__'__s_ butts."

"What'd she want?" Steve asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

"She kept asking where you were, saying all kinds of stuff about how the Navy was asking for the CIA's help in locating you, how they'd tracked you back to Honolulu but that you and your girlfriend were AWOL."

"Shit."

"She wanted me to tell her your holdup, man, like she _knew_ I knew or something. Said it was in everyone's best interests for you guys to just turn yourselves in before something happened to you."

"That sounds like a thinly veiled threat."

"That's what I was thinking. I took a roundabout way here, and I'm pretty sure I wasn't followed, but you know those CIA types."

Steve nodded and laid a hand on the big guy's shoulder. "Thank you. I can't tell you how much this means to us."

"Hey, we're _ohana_, McGarrett, and don't you forget it." Kamekona's back slap was a enough to make Steve lurch forward a step, but he just chuckled. "Say, what you gonna do with the ex-wife after she's done here, anyway?"

"I don't know," Steve replied truthfully. "We haven't exactly talked about it. Danny's sort of making it up as we go."

"It's gonna kill that little girl if something happens to her mother."

"I know," Steve said, staring at the sliding glass door of the house. He couldn't see Danny or Grace, but when he glanced over to the carport where Kono and Catherine were holding Rachel between them, he could feel the daggers in her eyes from where he stood. "I need to talk to Danny, but he wouldn't say a word on the way back here, not with _her_ in the car."

Kamekona nodded. "I'm going to take my hunk o' junk down the way a bit, there's a lot that's for sale, has crap piled all over it. My heap can blend right in. I'll wait there, you guys tell me if you need me to come get her for you, okay? Anything."

"You got it," Steve nodded, and headed back up the ramp as Kamekona went on his way.

When Steve finally found Danny and Grace in the upstairs bedroom he and Danny had shared overnight, they were seated together on one of the two twin beds. Grace looked up and beamed when Steve came through the door.

"Uncle _Steve_!" she cried happily, jumping off the bed and running toward him.

Steve got down on one knee, opened his arms wide and accepted the little girl's affection happily, enveloping her in a huge hug and even swaying with her a bit when she didn't let go right away. "Hi, Gracie, how are you?"

"Glad to see my dad," she replied, finally backing away from their embrace. "But…" Her voice trailed off. She looked back at Danny, then at Steve again. "Something's wrong, isn't it?"

Steve swallowed hard and looked at Danny, who just turned his face away like he didn't have a clue what to say or do now that they were here.

"What makes you think something's wrong, Gracie?" Steve asked.

"Well, this house is way far away from Mommy's or Danno's or even your house, Uncle Steve," she replied. "And Uncle Chin and Aunt Kono have never picked me up from school before, _and_," she continued without taking a breath, "I saw Stan's driver pass us as we drove away, so I _know_ Mommy didn't know they were picking me up." She turned away from Steve and walked up to Danny, stepping right up between his legs and wrapping her arms around his torso. "Danno?"

Danny's eyes met Steve's and he never thought he'd seen his partner look so helpless. Hopeless. Just plain _lost_.

Steve nodded once and rose to his full height. "Grace, come here a minute, would you?" Steve asked, holding out his hand.

She turned and took it, and Steve led her across to the twin bed on the opposite wall. He sat down and patted the bed next to him. She scooted up next to him and glanced at her father, then looked up at Steve expectantly.

"Do you remember when I told you once about my mom?"

"That she died?"

"Yes," Steve nodded. "And _your_ mom hasn't died, so don't think that."

"Okay," Grace replied, obviously relieved.

"Well, I found out something recently, Grace. I found out that my mom wasn't really my mom."

Grace's eyes widened. "She wasn't?"

"No," Steve shook his head. "She wasn't. My mom was another lady who gave me up for adoption when I was born."

"And your daddy?"

"My daddy was really my daddy," Steve replied. "It's kind of complicated, and we can talk about it more later, but I'm telling you this because there's lots of other things that your Danno and I have found out in the last few days, and some of them hurt just as much as when I found out about my mom."

Grace looked back across the room. She was young, but it wasn't lost on her that her father wouldn't look her in the eye.

"Uncle Steve? Is my mom not really my mom?"

"Oh, she's your mom, Grace, it's not that at all." Steve faltered. He looked to Danny, but his partner was giving him _no_ help at all, not even non-verbal cues. For a moment, Steve wanted to be angry with him, leaving him on his own to tell _his_ daughter that her mother was…was what, exactly?

"Then what is it? Has she done something bad?"

"That's…a good way to think of it, Grace, yes," Steve replied, feeling like he'd just fumbled the football right on the other team's one yard line. "Your mom has done something bad, and she needs to talk to you about it so you hear it from her, okay?"

"Mommy's _here_?"

"Yes, Gracie, she's here. My friend Catherine and Aunt Kono, your mom's with them."

"What did she do, Uncle Steve?"

Finally, Danny spoke. "She needs to tell you that herself," he said. And while his voice was thankfully no longer flat, it was so tinged with sadness that Steve was surprised there weren't accompanying tears to match it. "We're going to bring her up here, Monkey, and I'm going to stay in the room with you while your mom explains herself. All right?"

"Okay," Grace said as Danny rose to his feet and walked out the door. He closed it behind him, leaving Grace and Steve alone. "She's done something really, really bad, hasn't she?" Grace asked in a tiny little voice.

Steve put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a little squeeze. "Yeah, she has. I'm so sorry, Grace. I'm _so_ sorry this is happening to you and your Danno."

"It's not your fault, Uncle Steve. Sometimes bad things just happen."

The lump that appeared in his throat kept him from responding.

* * *

><p><em>Terms:<em>

_kama__'__aina_ – long-term resident of the Hawaiian islands


	21. Chapter 21

**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE**

Steve was sitting on the floor, leaning up against the wall opposite the doorway to the room occupied by the former Williams family.

Chin was with Catherine and Kono out on the perimeter of the property standing guard.

Mary was finding whatever she could lay her hands on in the fridge to get some sort of meal together. No easy feat considering their number, but first and foremost, Steve's instruction had been to make sure there was something for Grace to eat since dinner time was long gone.

In the darkness of the hall, Steve closed his eyes. He couldn't make out all the words Rachel, Danny and Grace were saying, but the tones of voices and the occasional sobs or sounds of softer crying told him enough.

And there wasn't a goddamn thing he could do about it.

No one had heard from Jenna, and Kamekona had now joined them at the house, sitting on the steps of what was actually the front of it, but facing the mountains rather than the road. He was armed to the teeth, eyes scanning the foliage, nodding now and then at Chin or Kono or Catherine as they passed him by in their patrol circuits.

Finally Mary made her way outside with a sandwich for each of them, Kamekona flirtingly asking if he could have two more. Their voices drifted up through the open windows and Steve sighed as the voices inside the bedroom became more sporadic and then stopped altogether.

The door creaked open and Steve looked up, blinking in the sudden bright light that flooded the hall. Danny was standing there holding Grace in his arms. She looked beat, and with good reason, Steve thought. He hiked himself to his feet as Danny took a step towards him.

"Will you take her?" he asked. "Make sure she gets something to eat?"

"'m not hungry," Grace mumbled, but went willingly to Steve's arms.

"Danny, I'm not leaving you here alone." He didn't want to say what he really meant with Grace right there, but he knew Danny understood.

"It's fine," Danny replied, scrubbing a hand down his face. He hadn't shaved in days, and a silver-and-blond-and-dark beard was growing in. Steve knew his own face didn't look much better. "We'll just be another minute or two."

Steve nodded once and carefully made his way downstairs with his burden. With every step, Grace's arms tightened more and more around his neck until he found himself nearly unable to breathe.

"Hey," he said softly as they entered the kitchen to find Mary with food items spread all over its center island.

She looked up, met her brother's eyes, and sighed. "How is he?"

Steve couldn't help but smile a little. Figured first thing she'd ask about was Danny. "I don't know," he replied honestly.

"He's sad," Grace mumbled into Steve's neck. "Because my mom's a criminal and he has to arrest her."

So that's how they'd explained it. Steve closed his eyes for a moment. If only it were that simple. "I'm sorry, honey," he said, squeezing her.

"You look good with a kid," Mary remarked, slicing up a tomato and laying the slices across four half-completed sandwiches. "I never thought I'd see you with a kid, you know?"

"Gracie makes it easy," Steve said, and brightened when he felt her smile against his neck. "I mean, it's not every day you meet a girl _this_ beautiful and _this_ perfect." Grace snorted a half-laugh into his skin. "You know, when Danny used to wax poetic about this perfect little angel, well, I wasn't so sure and then there she was, right there at the football game, and I just lost my head!"

Grace outright giggled, raising her head to look at him. Mary had to laugh at her brother's antics, pulling silly faces and rubbing his nose against Grace's. "You hungry?" Steve asked after he'd had her giggling for a good minute.

She sighed and looked over at Mary. "Who's that?"

"Oh! That's my little sister. Her name is Mary Ann."

"You can call me Mary," she said, coming around the island to stand in front of them. "So you're the one Danny said I have to talk to and like it, huh?"

Grace let out a surprised laugh. "Probably, that sounds like Danno." She turned to look at Steve. "I guess I'm a little bit hungry, Uncle Steve."

"_Uncle_ Steve?" Mary asked with eyebrows way up under her bangs. "Okay, Gracie, you're cute and all, but no calling me Aunt Mary, okay?"

"Okay," she smiled as Steve sat her on one of the four stools lining the center island.

"Tell you what, how about you help me finish these sandwiches? We'll get them done faster, and then you, me, _Uncle_ Steve," she said with a pointed look at her brother, who rolled his eyes, "and your dad can eat them, okay?"

"Do you know why I call Daddy 'Danno?'" Grace asked, holding out her hand.

Mary laid a piece of lettuce in it and Grace carefully placed it on top of the tomatoes on the first sandwich. "You call him 'Danno?'"

"Uh-huh. Wanna know why?"

"Is it a secret?" Mary asked conspiratorially.

"No," she giggled.

"Well, that's no fun," Mary pouted.

Grace laughed out loud. "It's because I tried to say his name when I was little, and I couldn't say it right."

"So it came out Danno instead of Danny?"

"Yeah," she smiled.

"Cute," Mary said, looking up at Steve, only to find him with his eyes trained up the stairs. "Go," she said. "Grace will keep an eye on me."

Grace laughed again. "Aren't _you_ supposed to keep an eye on _me_?"

"Oh, no, little girl," Mary said, shaking her head dramatically. "_I__'__m_ the one that needs watching. I get myself into all sorts of trouble."

Steve half-listened to their conversation as he stole back up the stairs. When he'd almost made it to the doorway of the bedroom, it was thrown open and Danny nearly ran him over. He stopped, looked up at Steve in surprise, and then frowned.

"Danny?"

"Do whatever the hell you want with her," he whispered fiercely. "She refuses to give up any of her contacts."

"I-"

"Look," Danny said, shutting the bedroom door and pulling Steve down the hall almost to the bathroom. "I know you have ways of making people talk. God knows I've seen a few of them in action myself."

"I can't do that to her! She's Grace's _mother_!"

"You think I don't _know __that_?" Danny looked like he was about to fly apart at the seams. "Where's Grace?"

"She's with Mary, Danny, she's safe."

"Safe? With Mary?" Danny huffed out a laugh. "You'll excuse me if I'm not buying that one too fast."

Steve grinned. "They're getting along great. Making sandwiches for us to eat."

"Seriously, Steve. You need to make Rachel talk. I can never feel safe, never feel that Grace or _any_ of us are safe until I know we've got them _all_. Do you understand what I'm saying here?"

Looking into his partner's eyes, he _knew_ Danny meant every word of it. But Steve had never applied his particular interrogation methods to someone he knew, let alone someone who was so close to his _ohana_. It might not have been that big a deal to him if she'd just been Danny's ex-wife, seeing as how Danny was the one asking him to do this. But she was also Grace's mother. And in spite of how both he and Mary had gotten Grace to smile and laugh, the fact still remained that there was no way Rachel could stay in Grace's life now. If whoever else she was in league with – be it her own father or one of Wo Fat's associates – didn't take her out for betraying them, it was a no-brainer that Danny would never be able to trust her again.

"Even if I manage to get information out of her, what are we going to do with her then? Don't forget, Cat and I are still AWOL from the U.S. Navy, and apparently you and I are plastered all over the airwaves accused of the governor's murder, not to mention Wo Fat's. And eventually, someone's going to find Matt's body. It's not like we can just waltz into the nearest precinct and tell them to book your ex-wife."

"Book 'em, Danno," Danny snorted softly. "I actually miss you saying that to me."

Steve smirked. "Don't worry. I'll get the chance again."

When Danny turned his face up to look at him, he seemed for just a moment to be as young and innocent and frightened as his little girl. "_Will_ you?" he asked. "Will _any_ of us?"

Steve didn't really have an answer for that.

* * *

><p>In the end, there was no easy way out of this. Steve <em>hated<em> it with the power of a thousand suns, but Danny insisted and it was settled.

Steve managed to get his hands on a Land Rover a few blocks away, hotwire it, and use it to drive himself, Rachel, Kono and Catherine up into the mountains, beyond the first ridge past the house on Mapele Way, and well into the valley between it and the next ridge. Danny told Steve he didn't _ever_ want to know how he got whatever it was he would manage to get, and Steve promised he'd never tell him.

In Steve's mind, getting intel out of Rachel became just another one of his many classified missions that he'd never divulge the details of. It was true the Navy had fucked him over royally, but they'd also taught him something that was going to come in very handy right now. Steve could compartmentalize like nobody's business. He just had to forget this was someone Danny had loved.

That he probably _still_ loved, in spite of everything.

Who was Steve trying to kid besides himself?

_Shit._

* * *

><p>Mary, Chin, Kamekona and Danny kept Grace at the safe house. She'd fallen asleep soon after finishing her sandwich, sprawled across Danny's chest and lap as they'd sat in the living room watching cartoons. Chin and Kamekona kept the perimeter protected while Mary moved inside and outside, helping keep an eye on the street side of the house while simultaneously trying to keep an eye on Danny and Grace.<p>

She felt bad for them. She felt angry, too, for how Danny and Steve had both been used. How her own father and mother had gone along with the whole thing, building their family on a lie. And when she'd turned into some female version of Rambo, she wasn't quite sure, but she found it exciting, to say the least. Maybe now, she thought, she was starting to understand what had appealed to her brother…her _half_-brother…about this kind of work. She was uncomfortable with Steve so far away, because she wasn't any more trained to do this than Grace was. But Kamekona was big and could be intimidating as hell, and Chin and Danny were both cops – _good_ ones – and she knew Danny would do whatever it took to keep his daughter safe.

His daughter.

Mary had never been that good with kids. She wasn't really what you might call maternal in nature. But Grace had made it easy with her big brown eyes, never mind how bloodshot they were, and her contagious smile and her ability to giggle and laugh even after finding out her mom was a bitch.

_Yeah, __so __sue __me,_ Mary thought when her conscience smacked her up side the head. _She _is _a __bitch. __How __could __she __do __what __she __did __to __him, __to __their __kid? __Just __look __at __them._

And she _did_ just look at them. For long minutes she leaned against the doorjamb and watched Danny with his head resting on the back of the couch, eyes closed, his daughter sleeping soundly with his arms wrapped protectively around her. Eventually she was startled out of it when Danny turned his head and opened his eyes.

She looked away quickly, knowing she should've been back outside already to check the street again. But her eyes were drawn back to the man on the couch, who still was looking at her. He smiled tiredly and she smiled back, then turned and headed for the sliding glass door.

Danny watched her go and felt something give inside his chest. He was not a stupid man, and knew instantly what it meant. Danny groaned out of frustration with himself. Here he was with a future he couldn't even fathom, for himself or his daughter, and he was developing feelings for his partner's _sister_? Christ, talk about bad timing.

He wondered briefly if, when Steve found out, he'd hulk out just to pound Danny into the pavement.

He tried not to think about what Steve might be doing to Rachel.

He tried not to think about how Steve was keeping a distance now…however minute…from Catherine, ever since the SUV. He wondered if anyone but him had noticed, including Cat herself.

He tried not to think about what would happen when Grace woke up in the morning to find her mother gone, possibly to never be seen or heard from again.

He tried not to think about how much his shoulder was killing him, to the point where he was tempted to ask Mary, on her next walk into the house to check on them, for about ten Tylenols.

He tried not to think about how the hell they were going to get Steve fixed.

He tried not to think about how long they were going to be able to stay on the run from the United States government, never mind the State of Hawaii and the Honolulu Police Department.

He tried not to think about the fact that his brother had never been his brother to begin with, and had betrayed them all. About the fact that Matt had actually been _Rachel__'__s_ brother, which still made him Grace's uncle, and how fucked it was that he was dead now. Yet another fun thing to have to tell his little girl at some point here.

He tried not to think about whether or not he'd ever see his _real_ family again, the ones who _were_ blood and _weren__'__t_ adopted. And how, if he did, he would tell them the truth about Matt. Or whether he'd even tell them at all.

He tried not to think about how, over the past week, he'd come to realize what his partner meant to him in ways that made sense on the one hand, but didn't on the other. It was something he really wasn't ready to examine too closely right now, but he knew he'd been right on the money telling Steve they'd been more than partners for a while now.

Danny wasn't quite sure he'd ever figure out what to call them, actually. And then his head started to throb in time with his shoulder, and he decided to stop thinking altogether because truly, that train of thought could only lead to madness.

Gearing himself up for what was sure to hurt like hell, Danny pulled every muscle taut and held Grace tightly to his body as he rose to his feet, grunting when the pain from his shoulder almost made him lose his balance. Christ, couldn't go falling down with Grace in his arms.

He'd just made it up the first step when Mary ran into the hall, breathless. "Danny!" she whispered loudly.

"What?" he asked, turning around.

"Someone just drove by," she replied. "And then they turned down there where the road becomes dirt and went by again!"

"Did they see you?" Danny whispered back.

"No, I ducked into the corner of the carport."

Chin ran in from the front of the house. "You saw the lights?" he asked.

Mary nodded.

"You get a look at them?" Danny asked him.

"No, I only saw the lights pass. I couldn't even get a make on the car."

"Two-door, small, red, cheap," Mary offered.

"You're a scary woman," Chin quipped and Mary winked at him.

Danny frowned. "Who do you think it is?"

Mary shook her head. "There was only one person in it, short hair, small frame. They had the interior light on, looking at a map or something, or I couldn't even have seen that."

Kamekona soon joined them, his labored breathing telling he'd done more than just come in the front door. "It's Jenna," he wheezed, grabbing the banister for support. "That's the car she was driving when she stopped by my shave ice stand this afternoon."

"You're sure," Chin said, face becoming a mask of stone.

"Oh, yeah, I know my cars, _brah_," Kamekona nodded.

"Goddammit," Danny breathed. "I _knew_ we couldn't trust her." His eyes met Chin's. "Okay, I need to get Grace into one of those beds up there. Not the twin bed room, one of the others," he explained, because he didn't want Grace anywhere near the room where she'd learned the truth about her mother. "Mary, are you armed?"

Mary Ann nodded, showing him her weapon.

"All right, I need you to stay in the room with her. Keep the lights out, but keep your gun trained on the door and your phone out where you can see it, all right?" Mary hesitated. Danny was halfway up the stairs before he realized she wasn't following him. "Mary?"

"You trust me with your kid's life?" she asked, like this was such a foreign concept it wasn't even being communicated in English.

"You're Steve's sister," Danny said, and Chin smiled at his words. "What's not to trust?"


	22. Chapter 22

**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO**

"Danny, what if someone gets past you guys?"

"Shoot them," Danny said as he tucked the sheet and duvet up to Grace's chin.

"Shit," Mary breathed.

Danny turned and looked at her in the light that streamed in from the hall. "Mary, I'm sorry to put this responsibility on you. But I need to check this out with Chin. Look, I'll send Kamekona up, okay?"

Mary nodded. At least that'd be two of them. "Danny?" she said as he reached the door, hand on the knob.

"Mm?"

"Why do you trust my brother so much?"

Danny looked at her a beat, then down at the floor, then met her eyes. "Well, part of it's a cop thing," he replied. "When you're in life or death situations constantly, you kind of…bond."

"There's more to it than that," she replied matter-of-factly. There was no judgment in the statement, just curiosity.

Funny, Danny thought, how he'd been sort of wondering about the whole thing himself. "We get each other somehow," he shrugged. "It's just one of those things you know in your gut."

She half-smiled at him, seated herself at the foot of the bed, and listened as he tromped down the stairs. Soon the sounds of Kamekona's lumbering footsteps coming up wafted to her ears. Her thoughts traveled back to when she'd told Danny that he and Steve were _so_ married. He hadn't even refuted it, just chuckled.

She hadn't seen them interact before as much as she had this week, and found that in spite of genuinely liking Danny as much as she knew she was starting to, this thing with him and her brother was even more preoccupying.

And here Danny was, trusting her with Grace, simply because she was Steve's sister.

That right there, she mused, said an awful lot.

* * *

><p>"It's Jenna, all right," Chin whispered when Danny joined him behind the Mazda 3 parked in the wider portion of the short driveway.<p>

"You think she tracked Kamekona?"

Chin nodded. "Seems like a fair bet. Dammit, Danny, is there no one left we can trust?"

Surprised at the uncharacteristic outburst from his friend, Danny laid a hand on his forearm. "You're preaching to the choir, buddy."

"Yeah, sorry."

"Don't be."

"I texted Kono," Chin said as Jenna drove by for a third time. She slowed to a crawl right at the end of the driveway, but then kept going, barely picking up any speed.

"Are they going to come back?"

Chin pulled out his phone and frowned. "She hasn't answered."

Danny mirrored his expression. "That's not like Kono. Let me try Steve."

A few seconds later, a quick text to his partner was sent. Danny waited. Steve never took longer than ten seconds to respond to his texts. No matter _what_ he was doing.

Never.

Danny glanced down at his phone.

Until now.

"Something's wrong," he said, and Chin's posture, even in a crouch, told him he agreed.

"You think Steve hulked out or something?"

"Why would he?" Danny asked. "There's no threat from Rachel, not viable enough to cause a hulk-out."

"What…" Chin's voice trailed off.

"Chin?"

It took a few seconds, but Chin finally looked up. In the darkness, Danny couldn't make out his eyes, but he could feel the uncertainty pouring off him in waves.

"What if the threat wasn't from Rachel?" Chin asked so quietly Danny had to strain to make out the words.

Danny's brain clicked through who else was with Steve and Rachel. Kono. Catherine. His eyes widened. "You don't think—"

"I don't know, Danny. What do we really know about her other than every time she's close to Hawaii, she and Steve get together for dinner and sex?"

"We know Steve loves her," Danny replied.

"Sometimes love isn't enough, though, _brah_," Chin replied, peeking up through the car's windows as Jenna drove back their way.

And whether Chin was referring to himself and Malia, or whether he was referring to Danny and Rachel, or whether he was referring to any one of the number of heart-related fuck-ups the entirety of the team had been subjected to just over the course of their friendship, Danny couldn't be sure.

But he _could_ be sure that when neither Kono nor Steve responded to text messages from their respective partners, something was desperately wrong.

"There's something you're not telling me," Chin said. "Even in the dark, I can tell."

"Well, it's weird," Danny said slowly. "Before the governor's residence, he was all over Cat, touching her constantly, letting her touch him."

Chin nodded. "I noticed."

"But after that, it's like he's unsure. Keeping his distance, but…"

"But what?"

"I'm not really sure he's even aware that he's doing it."

"What, like subconsciously?" Chin asked as Jenna slowly rolled by again.

Danny spread his hands in a classic IDEK gesture.

"Let's go put her out of her misery," Chin said, nodding toward the road.

Danny nodded. The men rose to their feet in unison, strode purposefully down the driveway and into the road, stopped and pivoted to the right so they were standing shoulder-to-shoulder directly in the path of Jenna's car.

The tires screeched against the pavement abruptly when Jenna saw them and slammed on the brakes. "Oh, thank _God_," they heard her say through the open window as she put the car in Park. "I thought I'd _never_ find you," she continued, getting out of the car.

Chin and Danny drew their weapons.

"Hey, hey, whoa, whoa!" Jenna said, stopping and holding her hands up, the map in one of them floating to the ground. "What gives?"

"You mind telling us how you found us?" Danny asked, shoulder starting to get pissed off that he was holding his gun with both hands.

"I put a tracker on Kamekona's Jeep," she explained. "I figured if anyone would know where you guys went, it was him."

"Forgive us for not believing a word you say," Chin said, and Danny nodded in agreement. "It's a little tough these days knowing who our friends are."

"Okay, look," Jenna said, nodding toward her car, "let me just get my laptop, and maybe that'll help you decide about me. Okay?"

Danny moved forward, gun still trained on her. "Get the laptop," he said, close enough to see whether she'd be reaching for anything else.

But she didn't. Simply opened the driver's side door, put a knee on the seat, reached over and grabbed her small laptop, opening the lid in one fluid movement as she pulled herself back out and bumped the door closed with her hip. She moved to the relatively flat trunk, set the laptop on it and typed her password into the login screen.

"As you know," she said, glancing up at Chin as he made his way to her right side while Danny flanked her left, "you and Kono asked me to look into a whole host of things."

Chin nodded once.

"Well, I found more than I bargained for, and as soon as I did, I got in my car and followed where the tracker led me, only I think Kamekona must've ditched his car down the road a ways." She looked at the driveway and the empty carport, brow furrowed.

"What is it you found that made you come all the way out here?" Chin asked.

Jenna moved her finger around the laptop's touchpad, clicked three times, eyes darting all over the screen, and then backed away, indicating the monitor with her hands. "This."

Danny and Chin looked at the screen, then at each other. "We were right," was all Chin said.

Sweat broke out on Danny's upper lip, the nape of his neck. His hands suddenly felt clammy as he stuffed the gun back into the waistband of his jeans, then scrubbed one of his damp palms over his face.

"And _I_ sent him out there with her!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air and then groaning as his shoulder sent a jab of pain through his body.

"You couldn't have known, _brah_," Chin said, voice tight.

"Where are they?" Jenna asked. "Steve and this woman Catherine? And Kono?"

"They took Rachel into the mountains," Chin replied, putting the safety back on and slinging his shotgun over his shoulder.

"Rachel? As in, Edwards?"

"Yeah, _that_ Rachel. Ex-wife extraordinaire," Danny replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Married to Stanley Jacob Edwards the Second of Manhattan."

"Yes, yes, _that_ Rachel, _that_ Stan." Danny's brow furrowed when she threw him a look, then went back to her laptop, made a few more clicks and mouse movements and stepped back again. "What?"

She gestured to the laptop. Danny found his gaze stuck on her momentarily, then heard Chin whisper, "Oh, man." Danny's stomach felt like it had just dropped to his toes. Swallowing hard, he turned to look at the monitor and froze mid-movement when his eyes landed on what was there.

STANLEY JACOB EDWARDS II

FATHER: STANLEY JACOB EDWARDS

MOTHER: ELIZABETH (LIZ) CHRISTINE STUART, née EDWARDS, née KING

"Stuart?" Danny finally breathed, unaware until that moment that he'd been holding his breath. "His mother is…what…?"

"Stanley's mother," Jenna explained, switching to another open window, "is Rachel's mother. They're half-siblings. Stanley's father and mother, that would be Liz, got a divorce when he was barely five years old. His mother remarried Charles Stuart, and they produced two children, Rachel and a Matthew that I wasn't able to trace."

"And…Rachel and Stan are…_married_? They're half-brother, half-sister and they're…oh, my _God_!" Danny cried into the night, throwing up his hands. "How can they get married with the same mother, that's illegal!"

"Stan's mother's last name is different than Rachel's mother's last name – Edwards versus Stuart. She died a Stuart. If no one looked beyond filling out her first and last name on the marriage license application, nobody would've realized anything other than that both had mothers named Elizabeth," Jenna explained. "Thing is, I can't find any evidence of a marriage license application in New York, New Jersey or _any_of the fifty states."

Danny's eyes widened.

"Honestly, I think it was just a marriage of convenience, or maybe they were never actually married at all, arranged specifically to get you," she said, pointing at Danny, "out here to Hawaii."

"But I thought me coming out here was…" Danny's eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute. Steve told me they didn't tell you anything about our suspicions regarding Rachel and Matt."

"That's right," Chin confirmed, pulling his shotgun off his shoulder again and thumbing the safety off. "We didn't."

"So why would you be mentioning me coming out here to follow Grace if you didn't know anything about that angle of all this?" Danny asked, taking out his own weapon again.

She rocked back on her heels, folded her arms over her chest and gave them a small smile. "Wo Fat knew, so I knew."

"You worked for him," Chin stated, face twisting in fury.

"No, I worked for the CIA. But I worked _with_ Wo Fat. How else could I have gotten my hands on all the stuff from McGarrett's tool box?"

"Sonofa—!" Danny's curse was cut off by Jenna's laughter.

Chin's eyes narrowed. "Why are you so smug when we've just figured out you're the enemy and we've got guns pointed right at you?"

"Because," Jenna said, opening her arms wide like they were a little late to the fair on this one, "I've got something that'll guarantee you won't shoot me."

Danny and Chin exchanged a look before Danny ground out, "And what would that be?"

"Not a 'what,'" Jenna said, then looked up at the house and grinned. "More like a 'who.'"

Danny's eyes went wide as he followed her line of sight. "You wouldn't _dare_!" he spat.

"Me? No, _I_ wouldn't," she said.

Danny took off for the house like a shot. He could hear Chin's footfalls right behind him. He even registered Jenna's car engine starting, tires squealing as she sped away. He didn't care. He didn't care at all about her, not anymore.

"Grace!" Danny shouted as he took the steps up three-at-a-time. "_Grace!_"

* * *

><p>The body lay still, unmoving. Clad in black jeans, a black long-sleeved tee shirt and black boots from the Wal-Mart they'd stopped at to get clothes that actually fit them, the man looked like he was sleeping peacefully.<p>

Except nobody would just be 'sleeping peacefully' out here on the jungle floor. Especially not with an object that looked like a dart sticking out of their bicep.

"That's him," said the tall, thin man with white hair and a thin white beard. Even in his light cotton slacks and cotton short-sleeved button-down shirt, he was sweating. He pulled a handkerchief from his front shirt pocket and mopped at his brow. "Goddamn Hawaii, I hate this place. Eighty-five degrees in the middle of the night."

"Be quiet!" his companion barked in a clipped British accent. His hair was dark, most likely being colored given his age, and his eyes were large, round and brown. He wore khaki shorts, a loud Hawaiian shirt and sensible hiking boots, but wasn't nearly as out-of-shape as his friend seemed to be.

"Why?" the other man groused. "There's nobody around for miles!"

"Where's the girl?"

"Who, the one playing Catherine? Probably off taking care of that woman Kono."

"I don't like this at all. I'm not convinced we can trust the lookalike."

The sound of a gun being cocked behind them made them freeze as a voice said, "Maybe you should trust your instincts more."

Turning, the men laid eyes on the woman they'd both been referring to. "Lieutenant Rollins," the one called Charles greeted with a nod of his head and a sarcastic bite to his voice. "Or whatever you real name is, I'm certain your weapon isn't required at this point, dear."

"I want to know what you're going to do with him," she said, nodding down to the body at their feet.

"You already know what," the white-bearded man replied. "It's not like you weren't planted on purpose."

"Don't _fuck_ with me, Edwards," Catherine ground out, turning the gun on him. "Tell me what you're going to _do_ with him."

"I'm afraid your emotions have gotten the better of you, haven't they?" Charles asked. "Such filthy language coming out of a mouth we paid dearly to make that pretty."

"My emotions are not the issue here," Catherine replied, now swinging the gun back his way. "I'll ask you again, what are you going to _do_ with him?"

Charles shrugged. "There are several research scientists in England who are lined up to pay good money for a test subject who can turn into a killing machine," he replied. "I'll merely be selling him to the highest bidder, dear heart."

"Over my dead body," another voice growled, and the men whirled around to find a young woman opposite Catherine holding a gun on them as well.

"Charles, I'm going to kill you for dragging me out here."

"Shut up, Stanley!" Charles barked.

"My son knows where we are," Stanley offered as he stared down the barrel of the gun the newcomer held. "If something happens to us, he'll know who to come after."

"Stan?" the woman scoffed. "He couldn't kill a person if you paid him ten million dollars to do it."

"What makes you so certain of that?" Charles asked.

"Because his hand was shaking when he tried to shoot me. Just before I killed him," she replied, jaw set in determination.

"You killed my _son_?" Stanley screeched, lunging forward, pulling a handgun from his waistband.

The woman fired, hitting him square between the eyes.

Catherine pushed through the leaves and plants she'd been hiding behind into the small clearing, moving forward until the barrel of her gun was pressed into the back of Charles Stuart's skull. "What do you think, Kono?" she asked, with a glance at the other woman.

Kono grinned. "I think maybe we should get that tranq dart out of Steve's arm and let him wake up," she replied. "And maybe Charlie here will tell us everything we want to know while we wait for that to happen."

Catherine nodded. "I like the sound of that. Thanks for having my back. Again."

"Hey, once I realized I was seeing two of you for real and not because I got hit on the head too hard, I knew something was up," Kono shrugged. "Don't mention it."

"How the hell am I going to explain all this to Steve?" Cat wondered aloud. "Anything on the phones yet?"

"There's still no reception out here," Kono lamented, looking at the NO SIGNAL displayed at the top of her cell phone screen and shaking her head.

"Let's just hope Danny and Chin aren't too freaked out by the time we get back," Cat replied, tucking her gun into her waistband and kneeling next to Steve's body. She pulled the dart out of his arm and threw it into the jungle. "Stan say how long this thing was supposed to last before he tried to kill you?"

"Two hours," Kono replied, her gun trained firmly on Charles.

"Good," Charles said, startling them both. "Plenty of time, then, to get Mr. McGarrett out of here and to the airstrip where my private jet is waiting."

"Are you _on_ something?" Kono asked. "You're not taking him _anywhere_."

Charles looked up and behind her. Kono froze. "I'm afraid, my dear, that you are very wrong indeed," he purred.

Something hit the back of Kono's head, and her world went dark.

* * *

><p><em>Terms:<em>

_IDEK_ – I Don't Even Know

_née_ – French word for "born," placed after the name of a married woman to introduce her maiden name (or previous married last names)


	23. Chapter 23

**CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE**

Danny barged into the bedroom where he'd left his daughter and Mary, and presumably where Kamekona had joined them.

It was empty.

A quick look around the room and he took in the rumpled duvet, a small Gracie-sized shape in the bed sheet, and the room's lone wooden straight-back chair overturned like there'd been a struggle.

"Grace!" Danny yelled as Chin darted across the hall to the room with two twin beds. It was empty and looked undisturbed, Danny noticed as he glanced in. Then on down the hall to the master bedroom, the door wide open. "_Grace!_" he bellowed, frantic now. "Chin, where _is__she_?"

Chin's eyes briefly met his, totally at a loss. He threw open the bathroom door and swiped the shower curtain back along its rod. Nothing.

Danny stopped in the middle of the hall and forced himself to take a few deep breaths. _Think __like __a __cop, __not __a __father. __Like __a __cop, __not __a __father._

They hadn't heard a peep from the house the entire time they'd been outside with Jenna. If someone was working with her, they'd have had to enter the house through the back – or, what was really the front – across the broad expanse of lawn that butted up to the base of the first mountain range beyond.

If they'd come in from there, and managed to get past Kamekona and Mary without a shot being fired, though, that meant it would _have_ to have been someone they recognized. Someone they knew well enough to trust.

But _who_?

Danny racked his brain as he and Chin ran downstairs and searched the first floor. There was no sign of anyone. Not a single object appeared out of place. Other than the overturned chair upstairs, it looked like the three of them had just…what? Walked out of the house under their own steam?

Danny's heart nearly seized in his chest. Or maybe they were dead? Weapon with a silencer? _No_, he thought, trying to keep his breathing even. There would've been blood had they been shot, and there was no sign of blood anywhere in the house.

"Out the back toward the mountains?" Chin asked, looking through the window in the back door.

Danny nodded. "That's what I'm thinking. Come on!"

_THUMP!_

Danny drew up short. "Wait!" he called out to Chin, who was already halfway across the yard. Chin skidded to a halt and ran back to him. "You hear something?" Danny asked.

_THA-THUMP-THUMP!_

The men looked up just as a window shattered, sending shards of glass their way. They gasped in surprise and leapt back, letting it all fall to the grass at their feet. Small pieces fell into their hair and onto their shirts. Carefully they shook their heads and swiped at their shoulders and chests to get it out, then looked up again.

There were two small socked feet sticking out of the window. "Oh, my _God_," Danny breathed. He and Chin were back inside like speeding bullets, racing up the stairs and into the room where Grace had been sleeping.

Chin threw open the closet door, looked at the ceiling inside and shook his head at Danny. Danny moved to the room with the twin beds and opened the closet, finding nothing in its ceiling either. He and Chin made it to the master bedroom next, opened the closet and looked up.

There it was. A crawlspace. Chin leaned down, cupped his hands and looked up at Danny. Danny took his weapon out, turned the safety off and stepped onto Chin's laced-together fingers, steadying himself with his left hand on the man's sturdy shoulder.

"One," Danny whispered, "two, _three_!"

He let go of Chin's shoulder and reached up, allowing Chin to balance him. Danny pushed the crawlspace cover open and slid it to the side. "Higher," he whispered. Slowly Chin lifted him. Danny's knee was firmly against Chin's chest to complete the balancing act, and when his head breached the crawlspace opening, he whispered, "Stop."

Danny looked around and realized this was a full-sized attic that covered the entire length and width of the house. But it was so dark, filled with so many shadows, that if any enemy _had_ been hiding up here, they'd have shot him dead without him knowing the difference.

"Grace?" Danny called out softly. "Grace, baby, can you hear me?"

"Mmmmmaooonnnmmmm!"

"Up, Chin!" Danny yelled down, and soon found himself catapulted through the opening. He rolled shoulder-first, crying out in pain when the injured one slammed into the hard wooden floor.

"Mmmmmaaaannnnnnooooo!"

Smoothly rolling up to his feet in spite of the tears leaking out the corners of his eyes, Danny looked toward the window that had been broken out and saw two little sock-covered feet kicking at the air in front of it. He was over there like a shot.

Her ankles were bound with a zip tie, wrists similarly secured behind her back. A handkerchief was pulled tight across her mouth as a gag.

First he untied the gag. Huge tears rolled down her face. "_Danno!_" she cried, lunging into him. His arms came around her and he rocked her slowly back and forth, shushing her, trying so hard to calm her as his hand smoothed up and down her back.

"I got you, Monkey, I got you, shhhhh," he whispered. Danny turned toward the crawlspace, where Chin's head was now peeking through. "Need something to get through zip ties!" he called out.

Chin nodded, and disappeared from sight.

Danny felt his heart take up residence in his throat. His baby, his little girl, the light of his life…the child who'd just discovered her mother was the worst of the worst, who had yet to be told her uncle was indeed her uncle, but not how she and her father had thought and _oh, __by __the __way, __he__'__s __dead_…the innocence which, if it hadn't already been starting to peel away because of what Rachel had done, was now stripped completely as Gracie shuddered and wept against his chest.

And for what?

For _what?_

Even Danny didn't know. Not really.

He rocked faster as a moan made its way to his ears. It sounded like it was coming from behind him, so he stopped and turned his head to look. A lock of blond hair caught his eye. "Mary?"

"Mmmnnnfff." Even through what was obviously also a gag on _her_ mouth, he recognized the voice.

"Hang on, Chin's on his way," Danny said.

"She—" Grace hiccupped a sob. "—she kept me safe, Daddy."

"Who, Mary?" Danny asked, petting her head, rubbing her back, rocking her again.

Grace nodded against him. Kept Grace safe? How? They were tied up, for all he knew the big guy was dead – certainly MIA – and Grace had had to resort to kicking out a window to get his attention. That wasn't his definition of 'safe' by any means.

"She hid us up here, and when they found us, Mary got them to tie us up instead of shoot us," were Grace's next words, and Danny froze in place.

His little girl shouldn't even know what it means to shoot someone. He felt tears fill his eyes. "Shoot you?" he repeated, knowing his voice was unsteady.

Just then Chin popped up through the crawlspace hole and was across the attic, skidding to a stop on his knees in front of Danny. He dropped a few items to the floor and went after the two zip ties with a pair of scissors. Danny heard the first _snick_ and then a second _snick_ and just like that, his baby girl's arms and legs were around his neck and stomach and they clung to each other, both crying softly.

Chin scrambled over to Mary, removed her gag and went after the zip ties on _her_ wrists and ankles next.

"She okay, Danny? Is Grace okay?" she asked frantically.

_Snick. Snick._

Lickety-split Mary was at Danny's and Grace's sides, wanting to touch but scared to get too close.

"I'm sorry, Danny. I'm so sorry. You trusted me and I let you down."

"No!" Gracie said, pulling back from her father and looking at Mary. She reached out and wrapped Mary in a hug, which she gratefully returned. "You didn't let Danno down, Mary, you saved our lives!"

"I think…" Danny took a deep breath, wiped at his face with the sleeve of his shirt and tried again. "I think you need to tell us what happened," he said, looking first at Mary, then at Grace.

"I'm thirsty, Daddy," Grace said.

"Then we'll get you something to drink, but we need to get out of here, and fast," Chin said.

Danny twisted to look at him. "What?"

"Danny, someone attacked them when we were right out front, and…" He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Kamekona?" Danny asked.

"No sign of him."

"He helped us get up here," Mary said. "He said he was too big so he boosted us up." She sniffled. "He said, 'Don't worry about me, _sistah_, I can take care of myself, you know?'"

Chin smiled a little. "Sounds like Kamekona."

Grace began to cry again. "Daddy, please find Kamekona," she whimpered as Danny rose to his feet with Mary's hand pushing at his elbow.

"He got us to the attic when we heard them come in the back. I knew you two were in the front," Mary explained as she, Chin and Danny made their way back to the crawlspace. "That they couldn't be you."

"Who were they?" Chin asked. "Did you recognize them?"

"I did," Grace piped up, stopping them all just shy of the crawlspace before Mary could even answer.

"Who were they, Monkey?"

"Mommy's driver, Carl," she hiccupped. Her tears had stopped, and her wide eyes were bloodshot as the light from the closet below illuminated them like some creepy noir film lighting.

"Jesus," Danny breathed. "There was a second man?"

Grace nodded.

"Did you recognize him, honey?"

She nodded again.

"Well, who was it?"

She looked directly into his eyes and huge tears welled up, then spilled over, falling faster and faster. "I-I _can__'__t_!" she wailed.

"Danny," Mary said softly. "It was…it looked like..." She shook her head and held her hands out. "Like _Steve_."

* * *

><p>Steve awoke to the sensation of a five-alarm hangover. It was all there: cotton-mouthed, throbbing headache, aching body, and nauseating flips of his stomach. He groaned and tried to sit up.<p>

It was only then that he registered the fact that he was bound. Tightly. Hogtied. A gag was over his mouth. He was inside something. A crate. Wooden. Small, his body was folded up, knees touching one side and the top of his head brushing the other. He rolled left and barely had an inch. Same to the right. Yes, small, wooden crate.

_Shit_.

He tried getting himself out of the rope that bound his wrists to his ankles, but found the knot well-tied. _Damn_. Then he stopped struggling long enough to listen carefully, see if he could pick up any sounds. Nothing. No voices, no air traffic, no ground traffic. No ocean waves, no wind, no rain.

That's when he heard a familiar voice suddenly, speaking in mid-sentence, as though a door had just been opened.

"—wants him back, Charles. They're very clear on that."

Him. Must be referring to Steve himself, he reasoned. But that voice? And Charles? Charles…Stuart?

"And I have made it quite clear that I intend to get my fair share out of all the work I have done to obtain the Commander. I've lost both of my children thanks to him and his partner, and I will not be left with nothing to show for my loss."

"Your concern for your kids is underwhelming," his companion said sarcastically. "But Rachel's only missing, so she could still be alive. And the Navy is not prepared to let you just take McGarrett away. That's why I'm here, to see that he's returned to his rightful owners."

Steve's eyes widened. It couldn't be. It _couldn__'__t_ be! He fought to keep his breathing steady in the face of pure disbelief.

"Lieutenant Rollins, or whatever your real name is, I assure you that you will not be taking Lieutenant Commander McGarrett anywhere. If you attempt to take him by force, my men will see to it you don't succeed, no matter how many of your SEALs you have at your back."

"For the record, Charles," Catherine said, this time standing much closer to the crate, "it doesn't take a Navy SEAL to get rid of a pathetic little army like you brought." Steve heard a gun being cocked.

A shot rang out. Steve flinched, hoping and praying against all hope that something else was going on here, that Catherine _wasn__'__t_ working for the Navy, that she _wasn__'__t_ going to return him to them, that yet _another_ person in his life wasn't betraying him.

The top of the crate was pried open, sending light pouring in over him. He blinked rapidly, trying to adjust his vision as quickly as possible. Soon, the face peering in at him became clear enough that his worst fears were confirmed.

Steve's heart felt like it was being ripped right out of his chest.

* * *

><p><em>Terms:<em>

_MIA_ – Missing In Action


	24. Chapter 24

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR**

"What do you _mean_ it looked like Steve? _Was_ it Steve or _wasn__'__t_ it?" Chin asked once they'd reached the second-floor hallway.

"It wasn't," Mary replied, and Grace, through her sharp intakes of breath, shook her head.

"Monkey?"

"Uncle Steve wouldn't have done that to me, or to his own sister," she stated like it was the bone-deep truth.

Danny had to agree, but…a lookalike?

"He didn't have the tattoos," Mary explained, rubbing at her sore wrists. "He was wearing a black muscle shirt, and there wasn't a tatt in sight."

Chin and Danny stared at each other for a moment. Finally, it was Chin who spoke. "Twin?"

"You think Jameson had twins?" Danny asked.

"Maybe John didn't even know," Chin offered.

"But Steve said one of the nurses who was there said John was in the room the entire time."

Mary frowned. "So if there _were_ twins, Dad would've _had_ to have known about it."

"And only one went to your family," Danny said.

"The other?" Chin asked.

His eyes met Danny's again. In unison, both pairs of eyes wide, they breathed, "Wo Fat."

"The bastard who had _Dad_ killed?" Mary asked. "Are you telling me I had _two_ half-brothers and he _raised_ one of them?"

"This is so convoluted," Chin breathed. He placed a hand on Danny's good shoulder. "We've got to get Grace out of here. We don't know where this lookalike and…what was his name? Carl? We don't know where they went. They could be right outside."

Danny made as if to move, then stopped. "I know where they went," he said.

"Where?" Mary asked.

"They went after Steve."

"Which means the mountains," Chin nodded. "Look, that sedan we've been using is only going to get us so far back on those ruts they call roads out there."

"What about…" Danny looked down briefly at where Grace's head was resting on his shoulder. "What about the Jeep?"

"We'd stand a lot better chance in it," Chin nodded. "I'll head down to the vacant lot where he left it. If I can't find the keys, I'll hotwire it."

Chin was out the sliding glass doors like a shot.

"Danny, I'm…you trusted me, I'm…I'm sorry."

He looked at Mary, then reached out his left hand, wincing as Grace's entire weight settled on his right shoulder. By now, though, it'd almost gone numb, for which he was grateful in spite of the fact he knew that wasn't a good sign.

Mary took his hand in both of hers, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"No," Danny replied. "You don't get to be sorry about this. You damn McGarretts and your guilt complexes," he groused, voice gruff with emotion and for once not caring about his language around his daughter. "If my Grace says you saved her life, then I believe her."

Mary nodded, swiping at her tears, embarrassed over showing such blatant emotion. "So we're going after these guys, that I get," she said. "But what about Grace?"

Danny knew there was no way in hell he should be taking his daughter into those mountains. Middle of the night, some killer Steve Clone out there with Rachel's fucking driver, and who the hell even knew what sort of skills either man had? Kono and Steve out there, out of contact. Steve may even be hulked-out for all he knew. Rachel who could hold a gun, but was probably not too useful in a fight, and Catherine.

Catherine, who it seemed wasn't Catherine at all. His eyes closed briefly as he remembered the file Jenna had shown them on her laptop. A U.S. Navy memo stating that Lieutenant Catherine Rollins was presumed dead in a helicopter crash en route to Seattle from the _Enterprise_. The timing placed it right after Steve had first called her and found out she was being watched.

If it was true, that the Catherine who'd secured the Clipper, who'd said she'd convinced the pilot and co-pilot of it to look the other way…the one who'd hugged and kissed Steve, who'd cried with him and been so concerned about him after he'd told her what was happening…the one who'd gone and gotten them weapons from Kamekona…the one who Danny had been thoroughly _convinced_ loved his partner as much as his partner loved her…wasn't Catherine Rollins at all.

But apparently, she was good enough at _being_ Catherine Rollins that even _Steve_ hadn't known? Then it hit Danny like a ton of bricks. Human Steve may not have recognized it right away, but _Hulk_ Steve _had_. In the SUV, when he'd taken Cat's hand and looked into her eyes, _that_ was when whatever went on inside his hulked-out mind told him something wasn't right.

And ever since then, _Human_ Steve had been reacting similarly, without even realizing it. The more basic part of Steve's nature had pegged what Steve's conscious human self – and Danny – had completely missed.

What was this with a second Catherine, another twin situation? An honest-to-God clone? Two weeks ago, Danny would've checked himself in for a psych eval if he'd even so much as considered the idea that cloning was actually possible, but now? After what he'd witnessed with his own eyes Steve morphing and changing back? Now, Danny couldn't be sure of anything at all.

"All I know is I sent my partner and Chin's cousin out there with—" Danny jerked his head toward Grace. Mary, understanding, nodded. "—and someone who may not be who she was pretending to be."

Mary's mouth grew large and round. "What are you talking about?"

Danny filled her in even as the familiar sound of Kamekona's Jeep wafted through the open doors.

"But she seemed so…_genuine_!"

"I know," Danny said. "I thought so, too, but…the creature knew."

Mary bit her lip. "Well, Steve will just…you know…hulk out if they're in danger, right? Isn't that when you said it happened?"

"Hulk out?" Gracie asked, lifting her head from her father's shoulder. "What's that mean, Danno?"

"Nothing for you to worry about right now, Monkey," Danny replied. "Come on, we've got to get going." He looked at Mary. "Is there any bottled water in that kitchen?"

She nodded. "I'm on it, meet you out there."

"Thanks," he grunted, the weight of his daughter finally starting to get to him.

Before he could even get out the sliding glass door, a strong – and _big_ – pair of hands was pulling Grace out of his arms.

"_Kamekona!_" Grace shrieked, leaving no question as to the owner of the hands. She threw her arms around his neck as he whispered something into her ear that made her giggle.

"Hey, big guy, I was beginning to think you'd bought it," Danny said, slapping him heartily on the back.

"Naw, man, I got to my car and they conked me on the back of the head, you know? Hurts like a b—" He looked at Grace's smiling face just inches from his. "Like a big, big baseball hitting your head."

Grace giggled. "He's alive, Danno!"

"I see that, Monkey." Danny glanced up and saw Chin motioning for them to hurry. Mary appeared behind them with armfuls of bottled water and a box of granola bars, plus two bags of potato chips.

"Hey, why don't you go get in the car with Mary, huh, _Omo_?"

"Okay," Grace nodded, waiting until Kamekona placed her feet on the ground. She still just had her socks on, but Danny hadn't seen her shoes anywhere and there just wasn't time to search.

"What?" Danny said, knowing his friend had something to say.

"Hey, _brah_, you sure you don't want me to take Grace away from all this? I can use that car over there and you three can go look for Steve and Kono."

Danny looked hard at where his daughter was seated in the middle of the back seat. Mary's arm was around her, and Grace was chugging a bottle of water for all she was worth. He looked up at Kamekona.

"I don't want you to take just Grace," he said. "I want you to take both her and Mary. You have a cell phone?"

"Naw, man, the guy who look like McGarrett, he took it outta my pocket." Kamekona let out a puff of air. "That was some creepy, _brah_."

"Okay, here," Danny said, pulling out his phone. "Keep trying to text Steve every ten minutes, or as close as you can to it. Pretend you're me, tell him the house has been compromised, and I'm taking Grace and Mary to Maui, to get them off Oahu."

"Ah, yeah, clever _haole_, I get it. You want them looking at the airports if someone else has McGarrett's phone."

"Bingo," Danny said. "And wherever it is you take them, Kamekona, I swear to God, do _not_ talk to _anyone_. No one in your family, no one in Kono's or Chin's families. It's you, Mary and my daughter, and that's _all_. Understood?"

Kamekona nodded. "Yeah, okay, I get it, I get it. Don't worry, Danny, I know all the places to hide on this island that even the criminal element don't know."

Danny reached up and cupped the big guy's shoulder in his hand. "Mary's not going to like this, but I'm not putting either of them in danger anymore." He looked Kamekona right in the eyes. "If anything happens to Mary, it'll kill Steve," he said, drawing a nod from the other man. "And my little girl, she's my _life_."

"She's not your _only_ life, _brah_," Kamekona countered. "Otherwise," he continued, nodding his head back toward the mountain range, "you wouldn't be going out there."

Danny swallowed hard. "You're right," he admitted, a sad smile on his face.

Kamekona just gave him a big, toothy grin, turned and clapped his hands together. "Okay, who wants to joy ride with me?"

"Danny?" Chin said.

"Mary, Grace, you're going with Kamekona in the car." Mary opened her mouth to protest, but Danny held up a hand to silence her. "Please do _not_ fight with me in front of my daughter. This is non-negotiable. My partner is out there, somewhere, probably being hunted, and I am _not_ putting my daughter _or_ his sister in _any_ more danger."

"I helped you rescue Steve."

"Yes, yes, you did," Danny nodded. "But that was in a controlled environment, a hospital building. And we had two other people there to help us. Right now, we've got jungle, we've got outdoors, we've got the middle of the night, and we've got people who we have no idea what they're capable of. It is _no__place_ for an untrained civilian or a ten year-old girl."

Mary glared at him. "You're just as bad as my _brother_," she spat.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Danny said as Grace got out of the car and came over to hug his legs.

"Danno?"

"Yeah, baby," he said, crouching down so they were eye-level.

"You're going to bring Uncle Steve and Aunt Kono and Mommy home safe, right?"

"I'm going to do my best, Grace," he replied, ruffling her tangled hair and trying not to choke over promising anything where Rachel was concerned. "Now, you be on your best behavior and do what Mary and Kamekona tell you. Keep quiet when they say, hide when they say, and try not to cry, okay?"

She nodded, little face so serious it tugged at Danny's heart strings. How could one so young now have such burdens on her shoulders? Danny knew one pipe dream of his was most definitely not going to come true. Because his little girl's youthful innocence was already gone.

He sighed as he watched Kamekona squeeze himself into the Mazda's driver's seat. Mary got in the back seat with Grace after shooting Danny a death glare that rivaled Steve's. They buckled up, Kamekona started the engine, and thirty seconds later the taillights were disappearing down the street.

"Come on, Danny," Chin said quietly. "They've got one helluva head start on us."

"Yeah," Danny whispered. He climbed into the passenger seat of the Jeep and watched the Mazda's lights in the side mirror until they rounded a curve and the lights were gone.

"We'll find them," Chin said. "And you know Kamekona will keep Grace safe."

"I know," Danny sighed, wiping a hand down over his eyes, nose and mouth. "Fuck, Chin, you know? Just…_fuck_."

There were long seconds of silence. Finally, Chin sighed as well. "Yeah," he said with a nod. "I know."

* * *

><p>"Cat?"<p>

She bit her lip, looked all around, and then reached out with a long knife in her hand.

Steve flinched.

But the knife just sliced through the ropes. "Come on!" she whispered fiercely. "Hurry!"

"Wha-?"

Steve's arms and legs were killing him, tingling and half-numb from however long he'd been held in that crate. She held her arm out to him, and he used it to steady himself as he climbed out onto the floor.

They were in what looked like a storage room. It was only about five feet by five feet and had no windows. The walls and floor were painted gun-metal gray and the crate was the only object in the room. Other than the dead body of some man he didn't recognize, of course.

"Cat, what the _hell_? I heard you two talking, you told him…he said…you're not…Catherine Rollins?"

"Listen to me, Steve, we have no time." He nodded mutely. "Here's a cell phone and a weapon," she said, handing him a small handgun and an old flip phone. He took them and stuffed one into each front jeans pocket. "The Navy had a lookalike of me on the chopper I took from the _Enterprise_ to Seattle, where I was going to arrange for transport for you."

"A _what_?"

She looked into his eyes, _willing_ him to believe her. "A man who wasn't in uniform held me at gunpoint, forced me to strip. This woman, I swear to _God_, Steve, she _looked_ like me, she _talked_ like me…she _was_me…she put all my clothes on and made me put hers on. I managed to get to the cockpit and cause the chopper to go down. The pilot was injured, but the man and the woman escaped."

Steve gaped openly at her.

"I got the pilot to fill me in on their plans before he died, and made my way to a small yacht. The owners got me to Seattle and I tracked my clone and her companion all the way to Honolulu. I realized she must have been a plant to get you back into Navy hands, so I, uh…intervened."

"What happened to her?"

"Dead, thanks to Kono. She figured out pretty fast that the other one wasn't me, when she asked her a question about you only I could answer."

Steve's eyebrows went up. "What question was that?"

Cat smirked. "How far down, exactly, your tramp stamp goes."

Steve lunged forward and wrapped his arms tightly around her. "Jesus Christ, Cat," he whispered into her hair. "All that time, I thought…I thought she was _you_, I…"

"I know," she soothed, though the sound was muffled in his shirt.

"What about the man she was with?"

"Charles Stuart," Catherine said, with a nod down to the body on the floor as they took a step back from each other. "The man I just shot."

"What? Rachel's _father_? _Here_?"

"I don't really know who _any_ of these people are except what little the pilot told me. But they obviously know _you_ well enough to know to make someone enough like me that even _you_ were fooled."

Steve turned red from neck to ears. "I'm never going to live that down, am I?" he asked sheepishly.

"Steve, listen to me. _I_ thought that woman was me to the point where I was doubting my _own_ identity! I'm not going to bust you for the same thing in the midst of a crisis, okay?"

He smiled brilliantly.

"But you'll be paying for it for a while," she teased, reaching up and giving him a quick peck on the lips.

Steve grinned as he looked all around them again, smile slowly fading. "So where are we exactly and how are we getting out of here?"

The door to the room swung open.

Catherine gasped.

And Steve came face-to-face with…

…himself.

* * *

><p><em>Terms:<em>

_Omo_ – 1. Child, or 2. My friend (either works in the context of this story)


	25. Chapter 25

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE**

Steve swallowed hard, face set in a mask of stone. His eyes flicked from the man who looked _exactly_ like him to the man on that guy's left. About an inch taller, Caucasian, dark eyes, tanned skin. Then he looked back to his lookalike, who had a smile on his face Steve knew instantly meant he and Cat were in serious trouble.

Maybe because the smile was his own.

"Well, well, well," Mirror Steve said, pulling a 9mm Pro Series Smith & Wesson handgun from his right thigh holster.

Steve's eyes roamed over the man's bare arms. No tattoos. He raked over the far-too-familiar face, and there was another difference. The mirror's right eyebrow was split almost precisely in half, a diagonal scar running from the center of his forehead down through the eyebrow, ending halfway to his eyelid.

"My scar," Mirror Steve said, following Steve's eyes. "Father's methods for training me when I was ten years old left me with that reminder of what it means to lose," he explained.

"Father?" Steve repeated with a blink.

"Steve?" Cat said, grasping his hand tightly.

"So this is the lovely Lieutenant Rollins," Mirror Steve leered. "The _real_ one."

"Focus on the goal," the man next to him said quietly.

"Fuck you, Carl. This is my first meeting with my twin brother."

Steve's eyebrows skyrocketed.

"So I'm going to do it _my_ way."

Carl shot the mirror a look, but settled for checking the clip of his own nine-mil and snapping it back into place.

"So, Steven, we meet at last," the mirror said easily, taking a step forward. "Allow me to introduce myself."

Steve noted a very slight limp in the short step and wondered how much advantage it would give him in fighting…himself. Same muscles, so the guy worked out. Same height, looked to be about the same weight. But did he have the same training as Steve? Could he take him in a fight?

"My name's also Steve. On purpose, of course," he explained. "I believe you are the man responsible for killing my father."

"If you're my twin, wouldn't we have the _same_ father?" Steve asked, stalling for time as his mind worked all the angles. Distance to Target 1. Distance to Target 2. Proximity of targets to each other. Proximity to Catherine. Catherine's training. His training versus that of this 'twin.'

"Biological father, yes," the other Steve replied. "John McGarrett was my biological father. Patricia Jameson was my biological mother. Same as you. But I was talking about the man who raised me, not the sperm donor."

Steve's eyes flicked down to the gun at the other Steve's right hip, the one in his left thigh holster, the sawed-off shotgun strapped to his back. His arms were bare to the shoulder, making them easy targets. Neck, face, head. He looked like he was wearing steel-toed boots, so the feet would be dangerous. How fast were that Steve's reflexes? How bad was his limp, and what was causing it?

"I believe, as I said, you're responsible for his death."

"Well, who are we talking about here? That might help me let you know whether or not I am," Steve replied evenly, moving his hand against Cat's until he was able to poke the center of her palm with his index finger.

Assess Target 2: lithe, appeared fit under his clothes but not muscular. Nine-mil in his left hand, nothing in his right. No other weapons on him unless he was hiding one under his chinos. Maybe an ankle holster or hidden knife. Assess Target 1: Possible hidden weapons under black cargo pants. Untold number of weapons possible in pants pockets. Something round fourth one down, right leg, probable grenade. Something flat and circular, third pocket, right leg, potential portable mine threat. Bullet clips, pockets 2 and 1, right leg. Shotgun shells, pocket 1, left leg. Long, thin items, possible ice pick-type weapons, pocket 2, left leg.

"My father's name was Wo Fat, Commander. I'm sure you knew each other."

Steve's assessment ground to a halt, his eyes coming to rest on his counterpart's, but giving nothing away. "I knew him. But I didn't kill him."

"Ah," the other Steve said with an understanding nod. "So that would have to have been your partner then, right?"

Steve kept his mouth clamped shut. He tapped the center of Catherine's palm twice. The next time he tapped her, it would be three times and it would mean he was about to open up a can.

"Now, lovely lady, if you will please put your weapon down," Carl said, gun pointed right at Catherine.

"I wasn't finished!" the other Steve protested.

"I don't care! We don't have _time_ for this! Tranq him, dammit!"

The other Steve sighed. "Pity, I was hoping to get to know you better. Then again, maybe I already know you better than I know myself. Or…something like that," he finished, snickering at his own joke.

"_Now_!" Catherine yelled.

_Okay, __that __wasn__'__t __part __of __the __plan_, Steve thought as he launched himself forward at his twin. He felt a bullet tear through his abdomen and roared in pain. Suddenly a blinding light shot across his vision and he _felt_ it happening. Felt his muscles changing, felt his skin burning, felt like his insides were going to explode everywhere.

_Oh, __my __God,_ he thought, stumbling backwards toward Catherine. He looked helplessly at her as a glow rose from his body, as his bones began to move beneath his skin, changing, causing his arms and legs and face to move with sickening clicks and squelches. _Oh, __my __God, __I__'__m __going __to __morph!_

Catherine's eyes went wide for a fraction of a second, but when she looked back to the two men in the doorway, she smiled. They were staring at Steve, who let out a low growl even as he stepped in front of Cat to protect her. He turned his back to her and the men watched in disbelief as the bullet from the other Steve's gun popped right out from between his overly-defined abdominals and clattered to the floor.

"No fucking way," the other Steve murmured, eyes wide as saucers.

"Yes fucking way," Cat replied, reaching around the morphing Steve's left arm. She fired.

Carl turned and ran out of the doorway as Mirror Steve fell, shoes slapping against the concrete floor getting further and further away. "Steve," Cat said, looking up at him as his skin finally tightened over his insides.

Steve's twin sprang up from the floor. A shot rang out. Big, green Steve fell.

* * *

><p>"Christ, this is seriously the middle of Bumfuck," Danny said. Chin shot him a glance. "What?"<p>

"Nothing," Chin replied, keeping his eyes on what Danny refused to call anything resembling a road.

"We're both worried about them," Danny sighed. "I know."

"Yeah, _brah_."

Silence enveloped them as it had for most of the hour they'd been driving deeper and deeper into the mountains. They'd already passed the ridge of the first range and were halfway down to the valley between it and the second.

"Now, if I were Steve, I'd have chosen this valley we're descending into," Chin finally said, "because it rises gradually to the east and then hits a straight shot up about twenty feet to the peak. And on the west side there's no way out unless you're on foot and even then it's treacherous ground."

"It scares me a little that you know the mountains and valleys of Oahu this well. I can't even see my hand in front of my face!"

Chin smiled, the lights of Kamekona's Jeep providing just enough of a glow to penetrate a couple of feet in front of it, but nothing else. "If you grow up on this island, you pretty much know it like the back of your hand."

"Figures. You guys are freaks of nature, you know that?"

A loud, quick sound echoed off the canyons around them. Chin braked, threw the Jeep into Park and cut the motor. He and Danny peered into the complete darkness surrounding them, to no avail.

"That was a gunshot," Chin whispered.

Then came a sound that made all their hairs stand on end. It was a howl that segued into a roar. It was a sound Danny would know anywhere.

"Steve," he breathed. "Chin, that's Steve, he's hulked out!"

"Where did it come from, I can't tell with the echo!"

"I don't know," Danny whispered, rising to his feet like maybe somehow that'd enable him to pinpoint it.

Well, he pinpointed _something_, at least.

"There!" he said, but of course Chin couldn't see which direction Danny was pointing in. "Down about three hundred feet at our two o'clock," he explained, sitting back down quickly.

Chin started up the Jeep and flicked on the lights. "What did you see?"

"A building with dim exterior lights."

"So if Steve's changed…"

"Then that means he, or one of the others, is in danger."

Chin let out a yelp and slammed on the brakes. It took Danny half a second to catch up, but when he did, his heart started racing.

She had stumbled right out in front of them. She looked bruised, battered, with drying blood on her neck and dark against her left cheek in the Jeep's headlights.

"Kono!" Chin yelled as he and Danny hopped out.

"Oh, my God, are you okay?" Danny asked as the men flanked her.

"Knocked meeee on my a-assssss, back o-o-of da head."

"You have a skull fracture?" Chin asked, gingerly running his fingertips up the back of her neck to the base of her skull.

"I dunno," she slurred. "Hurts. Left me…fforr…dead, Cc—Cuz."

"Shit, she's hurt bad, Danny."

"Sssteve…he took C-Cat and, a-and Ssssteve, Da-aaahhhh!" Kono grabbed her head and lurched forward to her knees, retching whatever she'd last eaten onto the ground in front of them.

"Shit!" Danny cursed as he and Chin dropped to their knees next to her.

"I'm hurt bad," Kono managed to say. She sounded like a small, frightened child.

Danny's gut twisted. "Chin, give me your shotgun and another backup handgun."

Chin looked up at him over Kono's bowed head. "Danny, you can't-"

"You are taking her to an emergency room. You are taking her _now_ and I'm going the rest of the way to Steve on foot. I just need extra weapons."

Chin held his friend's gaze for all of maybe two seconds before he was on his feet and rooting around the back seat of the Jeep. He returned with a shotgun, which Danny slung over his shoulder as he stuffed the six shells into his pocket, and a mid-sized handgun, which Danny pushed into the back waistband of his jeans, palming the two clips Chin handed over and sliding one into each of his back pockets.

"No one else is going to die for this family bullshit Steve and I have going on," Danny said, jaw set defiantly. "You're our _ohana_, but you know that none of us would forgive any of the others if something happened to her," he finished, pointing down at Kono.

"I know," Chin said softly as he rubbed between Kono's shoulder blades. "Danny…"

Danny had just turned to walk away when Chin spoke. He stopped and turned back to face him, taking the small flashlight Chin was offering, flicking it on to make sure it worked.

"_Mālama __pono_, Danny," Chin said, gently pulling Kono to her feet. "And bring him back to us."

Danny swallowed hard and nodded. "I will."

The men held each other's eyes for only a moment more, then Kono started to sway on her feet and Chin hurried her to the passenger seat. Danny didn't even wait to watch them leave. It would be easier not to, and as another great roar of pain filled the air, he knew there wasn't time anyway.

He switched the flashlight on and continued on foot along the rutted dirt road as fast as he could. Faster than he probably should, he knew, but at least he was wearing actual running shoes this time instead of his traditional city cop dress shoes. Something Steve would appreciate under current circumstances, no doubt.

Steve.

Danny's feet moved faster.

Steve, who had morphed.

Big and green.

Muscular, strong.

Child-like.

And Danny wasn't there.

His feet moved even faster. He was jogging quickly now.

The sound of tearing metal.

Another gunshot, this one making the hairs stand up even straighter on the nape of Danny's neck.

And his feet went faster.

Steve the Hulk. Able to produce Kicked Puppy faces in spades even when he had enough power under his skin to kill whole armies of men.

Big enough to carry Danny the way Danny carried Grace.

Fiercely protective, even with a mind like a young child's, taking bullets for Danny and Mary.

Steve his partner, to whom so very, very much had happened. _For_ whom, nothing was the way he'd ever thought, and nothing would ever be the same again.

A growl. Quieter, but able to be heard because Danny was closer now.

Something metal slamming against something else, another roar.

Another growl.

The ground evened out a bit and Danny opened up into a full-out sprint, turning his flashlight off as a faint glow suddenly turned into a building to the right side of the road not a hundred feet in front of him.

Here he was, a cop from New Jersey, a father, an ex-husband…in the middle of the jungle like Rambo, armed to the teeth, not knowing what or who he was going to face. He didn't belong here. He never had. He'd followed Grace here. It had been orchestrated that way from the beginning, maybe, or maybe he'd been nothing but an inconvenience to his ex-wife, her half brother, and her brother he'd once thought was his.

And yet…

His feet started slowing down.

And yet if he had never come to Hawaii, who would be here now to help Steve?

Danny stopped running about ten feet from the edge of the building. There was a door on the left wall, which was only about fifty feet long. The wall on the right was easily five times longer. The building was painted in varying shades of green, he noted, as he quickly flicked the flashlight on to get a better eye on its construction. Concrete, flat roof, no windows, just the one door.

Well, then…the door it was.

The door that slammed open.

The door that allowed light to pour out, illuminating the man that poured out with it. The man he _knew_.

"Carl!" Danny yelled.

The man looked up in surprise. He took aim at Danny.

Danny knew he wasn't going to get the gun out of his waistband in time.

Then something huge sailed through the doorway. Danny saw only a flash of green as it crashed into Carl. A shot rang out.

Neither man nor creature moved.

* * *

><p><em>Translations:<em>

_Mālama __pono_ – Be careful


	26. Chapter 26

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX**

"_Steve!_" Danny yelped, dropping his gun to the ground as ran to where the hulking green body of his partner was face-down atop Carl. "Steve, come on, talk to me."

_Very __funny __since __he __can__'__t __talk_, his mind supplied.

The creature didn't move.

Danny thought maybe his own heart had stopped.

"Steve?"

He laid a hand on what seemed to be the miles of cool, green skin covering morphed Steve's back. It bulged with muscles more ridiculous-looking than when Arnold Schwarzeneggar had been bodybuilding.

Then the back beneath his hand moved. Expanded. A breath.

A grunt.

"Steve?"

Danny felt his heart start beating again. He pushed and shoved, hands gripping and pulling and pressing as he tried getting Steve the Creature to roll off Carl's body.

Finally Steve shook his head as though he'd hit it too hard and was seeing stars. He levered himself off Carl and into a sitting position, blinking rapidly, looking confused.

Carl looked squished.

"Hey, buddy, you with me?"

Steve only just then seemed to register the voice. His eyes widened, lost focus for a moment, and then lasered in on Danny's. In the dim lighting from the building, Danny saw the instant the green guy recognized him.

Danny was, however, unprepared for a full-out launch of huggy monster to his person and cried out in what was admittedly a _most_ unmanly way when he found himself tackled to the ground, then squeezed hard enough to make all the air whoosh out of his lungs.

"_Oof!_ Holy…_Christ_!"

Steve seemed to realize he was holding on just a little too hard for the comfort of the man he was so happy to see, and let go, lifting himself away and gently letting Danny fall to the dirt beneath them. He reared back onto his knees and looked around uncertainly.

"Hey, it's okay, big guy," Danny said gently, not wanting to spook him. He reached a hand out. "Been meaning to talk to you about all this manhandling you've suddenly started in with, though," he continued as Steve's hand engulfed his and pulled him – well, _yanked_ him, really – to his feet. "I'm all for hugs, I am a Master Hugger myself," he said, trying to brush the red dirt and dust from his jeans before resigning himself to the futility of such an endeavor. "But really, give a guy a little warning first, would you? Bodily harm should not be a standard aftereffect of getting a hug!"

Steve cocked his head – _Oh, __there __we __go, __Confused __Puppy __Face_ – and when he grinned, Danny couldn't decide whether he looked like a rabid wolf or a really happy version of Mike from _Monsters,__Inc._

Danny crouched down next to Carl and placed two fingers against his neck. "He's dead," he said, fully conscious of the fact that Steve was so close the remnants of his jeans were brushing against Danny's legs. He turned to face his partner. "You know, I used to get cricks in my neck from talking to you on a _good_ day," he said with a grin of his own. "Now it's just downright physically _impossible_ for us to have a conversation."

_Never __mind __it__'__s __because __you __don__'__t __even __understand __most __of __what __I __say_, his mind added.

"Okay, Steve, where's Catherine?" He had a little trouble saying the name because of the fact that it _wasn__'__t_ Catherine as far as he knew. Steve twisted his head again, followed by a grunt. "Catherine," Danny repeated slowly. "Cat. The pretty lady. Lieutenant Catherine Rollins?"

But Steve clearly hadn't a clue.

"Okay, how about Rachel? You know Rachel, my ex-wife? Grace's mother? Not ringing any bells?"

Steve frowned and seemed a little upset, even.

Danny sighed and drew his weapon. Steve tensed beside him. "Okay, you're the back-up," Danny said as he headed for the open door. "Given your propensity for being stuck to me like a Velcro friend when you're in this monstrosity of a body, I don't need to tell you to stay close."

Danny felt a surge of adrenaline as he stepped into the building. He didn't need to worry about Steve. After all, at least _he_ could pop a bullet out of his body if he got shot. He was more worried about what he might find. There was no sign of Cat, or whoever the woman was. There was no sign of Rachel. Kono had said a 'he' had taken Cat and Steve. Was the 'he' Carl? Or was there someone else lying in wait to take them out?

Was Rachel even alive?

Who was the woman pretending to be Catherine?

And then there was Steve. Well, the _other_ Steve. The lookalike. Twin. Whatever.

Danny crept through the building, which turned out to be one long corridor with doors on either side. It vaguely reminded him of a similar setting from a _Scooby-Doo_ cartoon he'd once watched with Grace on the Retro channel. A hallway full of doors and there were Scooby and Shaggy and the gang running in one door, out another further up, the ghosts and ghouls and whatever the heck weirdoes of the week there were chasing them up, down and through until you were dizzy with it.

There was some crazy metaphor for Danny's life in there somewhere that he wasn't ready to examine too closely.

If he and Chin were right, and Steve's twin had been raised by Wo Fat, it was a good bet that he had at _least_ gone through martial arts training. Who knew what the hell skills Wo Fat had had, or had wanted to make sure the twin learned?

But Danny seriously began doubting himself as they crept through the hall, looking in the first door on the left and then through the door on the right. All the nearby doors were wide open and empty, hiding nothing. He was doubting himself because if he came face-to-face with someone who was identical to Steve, even if he knew it _wasn__'__t_ Steve…would Danny actually be able to pull the trigger?

That was a disturbing thought that he couldn't immediately answer, so he put it out of his mind and concentrated on the search. There were two doors left at the very end of the hall. There was no exit at this end and both of the doors were closed. That's when a large green arm rose to the side of Danny's head, and pointed to the door on their right.

"Is Catherine in there?" Danny asked.

Steve grunted twice.

Danny inched forward, reached out and put his hand on the knob. He turned it slowly and then threw the door open as fast as he could. There she was, on the floor, lying face-up. Next to her was a man Danny knew well.

"Charles," he breathed. "Jesus Christ."

Charles Stuart was dead; Danny didn't need to feel for a pulse to know that. But what about the Catherine lookalike? He was surprised when Steve walked over to her, got down on one knee, and placed one hand under the backs of her knees and the other beneath her shoulders. He watched as the creature rose to full height and growled softly, looking Danny right in the eyes.

"You really do love her, don't you?" Danny asked.

Steve didn't understand the words, but his eyes were pretty clearly answering Danny's question. Danny smiled softly as Catherine moaned…smiled because Steve was no longer shying away from any contact with her, as he hiked her closer to his chest, settling her against his body. If he was no longer trying to stay away from her, maybe…somehow…was this the _real_ Catherine after all?

Danny didn't know, but the whole thing was starting to make his head hurt.

A noise broke him out of the moment. It had come from behind the closed door opposite the room they were in. Danny's gun was up again, both hands aiming it as he stepped into the hall, jerked to the left with it to find the hallway empty, and reached out to take the final doorknob in hand.

When he threw it open, a woman shrieked. In a voice he knew all too well.

"Rachel?"

"Danny?"

Green Steve appeared in the doorway, still holding Catherine in his arms.

Rachel looked up and up with wide brown eyes, screamed and fainted dead away.

Danny couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

><p>Sometimes having a guy way bigger than a normal guy, and way stronger, to help you out came in handy. To say it was slow-going traipsing back up the mountainside with Danny's little flashlight on the rutted dirt road was an understatement, but at least Steve was carrying the two women so Danny and his painful shoulder only had to worry about keeping himself upright.<p>

Well, that, and trying to keep a lookout for another Steve.

They'd gone about mile, having nearly reached the summit, when Green Steve stumbled.

"Whoa, whoa, you okay?"

But one look at him told Danny that Steve was fading, and fast. His eyelids were drooping, his eyes seemed unfocused, and his whole body was sagging.

"You're about to change back," Danny said. "We've got to find some cover."

But there was none to be had. While the jungle itself provided fairly decent cover overall, there was nothing to keep anyone from sneaking up on them from any direction. And Danny knew that Post-Morph Steve was someone who needed to sleep – or at the very least, rest – which didn't bode well for Danny, who felt ready to drop from exhaustion himself.

Unfortunately, he didn't have any choice here.

So he urged Steve to follow him into the jungle a few dozen feet, plowing their way through pink and green elephant ears, Haha trees, Taros, branches of Pencil trees and Papyrus – the only ones Danny could identify – and every other thing Danny could only hope wasn't covered in some sort of flesh-eating insects that would find their way under shirts and pants. They came to a large tangle of Banyan trees surrounded by lush, thick ferns. The trees, in their own weird way, formed a sort of U-shape, so Danny gestured for Steve to put Rachel and Catherine down in there.

No sooner had Steve done so, with Danny carefully arranging them so their heads and limbs weren't at angles that would be painful when they woke up, than Steve sank to the ground, leaned back against one of the larger trunks of a Banyan, and tilted his head back against it. His eyes closed and his face sagged.

Unable to stay on his feet any longer, Danny slid down the tree next to him, their arms touching, and watched silently as Green Steve began to glow, almost shimmering in the extreme darkness. He switched off his flashlight and laid his left hand on Steve's right thigh to ground him as he went through the reversal and returned to his human form.

It seemed like forever until the change was complete, but in reality he knew it was only a few minutes later that he heard an uncertain, "Danny?" next to him.

"Right here, Partner," he said, squeezing Steve's thigh.

Steve sighed, curled up in a fetal position, and tipped sideways so fast and hard Danny was pretty sure the guy had passed out cold. He gasped when Steve's head hit his thigh. "Christ, what do I look like a pillow?" he asked, left hand flailing. "You take far too many liberties nowadays what with this whole morphing thing," he continued, hand growing still and coming to rest on a bare human-sized bicep. "You didn't have much concept of personal space beforehand, Steven, but you know, just because you turn into a superhero doesn't give you full immunity and means to use me as your own personal doggie bed."

Danny scooted his hips forward a little so he wasn't sitting directly on his tailbone, sighed loudly and closed his eyes. He'd just rest them for a moment, and keep his ears open for anything that didn't sound like a cacophony of unidentified bugs and quite possibly nasty creatures like wild boar shuffling through the jungle.

He wouldn't let himself think about how nothing in Hawaii was normal, right down to the sizes of their black ants. He was convinced some nuclear testing had gone on in the islands at some point, causing what used to be simple annoyances back in New Jersey to go through a transformation of their own into evil, calculating insects with pincers that should be labeled as deadly weapons in their own right.

Occupying his mind by thinking about all the things he did _not_ want to know were surrounding them right now was doing nothing to relax him. Which, he supposed, was a good thing considering if he relaxed _too_ much, he'd be asleep in an instant.

He had no phone. He'd given his to Kamekona. Steve had nothing in his jeans pockets – or what remained of his jeans, that was – and he'd searched both Cat and Rachel before they'd left the building and found nothing on either of them. No phones, no weapons – nothing.

Which led him to believe whatever they'd had was taken by Steve's twin before he made good his escape. And of course that meant the guy could be anywhere around here. Hell, he could be a foot away and Danny wouldn't know it, the vegetation was so thick around them.

And while Danny was excellent at navigating concrete jungles, he was unequivocally, and would admit this freely if asked, wholly inadequate to tasks involving _real_ jungle survival. For a good hour he kept an inner monologue going that would've made his Pop proud. Only thing was, thinking about his father made him think about Matt.

Thinking about Matt led him to thinking about Rachel.

Thinking about Rachel made him think about Grace.

Grace led his thoughts to Mary Ann.

Which led his thoughts to Steve, whose head felt like it weighed as much as an anvil after spending an hour welded to Danny's thigh.

He sighed. Why did everything in his life always come back to Steve, anyway?

_Transplanted from Jersey to a police force whose standard name for you was said in derogatory tones of voices? No problem. Enter Steve, to whisk you away from all that and get you in with a group of people who accepted you even though you were a short, loud-mouthed blond mainlander who wore ties to work._

_Gone __from __the __familiarity __of __skyscrapers, __sidewalks __and __the __occasional __trip __to __the __Atlantic __Ocean __to __a __pineapple-infested __hellhole __where __the __amount __of __clothing __worn __bordered __on __indecent, __where __you __were __as __likely __to __be __stung __by __a __jellyfish __as __hit __by __a __car, __and __where __people __thought __putting __fruit __on __pizza __was __normal? __No __problem, __you__'__ve __got __an _ohana _now __to __make __you __start __feeling __like __this __rock __was __always __your __home __to __begin __with._

_Got __some __sort __of __warped __idea __that __your __family__'__s __idyllic __while __your __partner__'__s __is __so __FUBAR __it __makes __the __Manson __family __look __normal__? __Oh, __no __worries__…__we__'__ve __got __just __the __cure __for __that. __We__'__ll __make _your _family __just __as __fucked __up __as _his_._

Danny was seriously beginning to doubt his own sanity. His thoughts were known to be scattered on a _good_ day, but these were taking the proverbial cake.

He figured Rachel was okay seeing how she'd just fainted over seeing big green Steve. But he wasn't sure about Catherine. He hadn't found a lump on her head or anything, and yet she was still unconscious. If she really _was_ the real Cat, he hoped like hell she was going to be okay, for Steve's sake.

It always came back to Steve.

Damn.

His partner snuffled and rolled, smashing his face into Danny's abdomen.

"Big oaf," Danny muttered, trying to push Steve's head away.

His hand froze when a sound reached his ears. _Wild __boar_?

No. Steps are too heavy.

Human.

Steve's twin?

_Oh, shit._

Danny scrambled to his feet. He didn't dare turn on the flashlight – he'd give their location away way too easily. He took the shotgun off his shoulder and thumbed the safety off, listening hard.

There. There it was again. A few more steps, coming nearer.

And then a bright light shone in his face.

He couldn't see a thing.


	27. Chapter 27

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN**

"Danny?"

Danny felt such relief he staggered from it. "Chin?"

"Thank God," Chin breathed, hurrying forward. He swept his bright xenon flashlight left, saw the two women and frowned. Then he moved it down to the ground near Danny's feet, where Steve – in spite of having had his head dumped unceremoniously from Danny's lap – was sound asleep. "Are they all okay?"

"Rachel fainted when she saw Steve in green form," Danny replied.

Chin couldn't resist a snort.

"I don't know about Catherine. She was unconscious when Steve and I found her, and I couldn't find any injuries, but she hasn't regained consciousness."

"And Steve?" Chin asked, kneeling down next to his friend.

"Post-Morph Coma, is what I've come to call it," Danny said. "I think he's fine, just exhausted."

Chin rose to his feet. "Kono's going to be okay. She has a minor skull fracture but mostly her problem was a Class A concussion."

"Where is she? How'd you even get back here? I didn't hear the Jeep."

Chin shook his head. "The Jeep crapped out on me in the hospital parking lot. I took a cab as far as I could and hoofed it up here on my own."

"And you're not even winded?" Danny asked incredulously. "Right now I hate and love you equally, Chin Ho Kelly."

He huffed out a laugh in response. "Any sign of Carl or Steve's twin?"

"Carl's dead, Steve tackled him as Carl tried to shoot me. Wound up shooting himself," he replied, waving his hand in Steve's general direction. "And Rachel's father was in that building, too."

"Are you _kidding_ me?"

Danny shook his head. "Dead, gunshot wound. Rachel's and Catherine's pockets were emptied, not even a weapon between them, so I'm guessing the twin cleaned them out and took off. If he was still with Carl by the time they got this far, even."

"So now what?" Chin asked. "We can't carry the three of them between us."

"But we need to get out of this goddamn rainforest," Danny said, looking down at Steve.

"You think you can rouse him?"

"He's only been himself for just over an hour," Danny replied. "I don't know, Chin. I doubt it, though."

"Steve," Chin said, crouching down and shaking the man's shoulder. "Steve, can you wake up for me?"

Steve groaned.

"Well, that's a good start," Danny quipped, rubbing a hand down his face tiredly. "I'm going to pass out, I swear."

"Okay, look," Chin said, shining his flashlight around the Banyan tree grove. "You've got yourself some pretty decent cover here, at least from one side. How about you try to catch a few winks and I'll keep a lookout. It'll be dawn in a couple hours, and maybe by that time everyone else will be awake."

"Did I tell you yet how much I love you?" Danny asked, thumping down to the ground so hard he wondered if he'd bruised his ass.

"You may have mentioned it," Chin responded with a smile.

Danny handed Chin the rifle, lifted Steve's head and shoulders, and settled them onto his thigh again as he leaned up against the thick trunk and closed his eyes. "Just a few minutes," he mumbled, and was out like a light.

Chin clicked the flashlight off, sat down cross-legged not too far from the women's feet and only a few inches from Danny's outstretched legs, and closed his eyes. Slowly he allowed himself to tune in to the sounds of the world around them out here in the natural wonder of the island he'd grown up on.

He tuned in, and he listened.

Nobody was going to sneak up on them on _his_ watch.

* * *

><p>Danny felt like he was having a petite mal seizure. But Danny didn't ever have <em>any<em> seizures, so that right there started stirring him awake. He was first aware of the fact that it was his left leg and torso, mostly the abdominal region, that were shaking. Trembling, more accurately. His eyes snapped open and he looked up to find Chin staring down at him in concern, then looked down to find it was Steve, still curled up on Danny's thigh, who was doing the shivering.

"Oh, shit, he's hardly got anything on," Danny said, feeling like he should kick his own ass for not even thinking about the fact that Steve was mostly naked after changing back to human. "Idiot," he mumbled to himself, running the palm of his hand up and down Steve's arm. "He's way too cool."

"He was probably covered in sweat when he fell asleep, and even out here in the mid-summer jungle, at night under the canopy it can get cool."

Danny forced himself to his feet, gently bringing Steve up to a sitting position. His _teeth_ were chattering and Danny frowned. It wasn't _that_ cold out here, even for a guy wearing nothing but shredded jeans. Steve shouldn't be that _cold_.

"Something's wrong, Chin," he said, forcing Steve's left eyelid open, then his right. "Pupils are fixed and dilated."

There was a moan from the vicinity of the women and both Chin and Danny glanced over sharply. Catherine was waking up. But their attention quickly snapped back to Steve, who'd begun mumbling incoherently.

"Hey, Steve, can you wake up?" Danny asked, keeping his partner upright by grasping either side of his face tightly. He shook him a little even as Steve continued to shiver. "Steve, wake up. Come on."

Chin crouched behind Steve and began vigorously rubbing his bare arms from shoulder to wrist, up and down, up and down until he hissed from the friction heat. "Steve, it's Chin. We need you back with us. Come on."

But Steve was not responding.

Danny started feeling panic well up within him. Something was wrong, and given that they knew next to nothing about Steve's condition to start with, there was no way of knowing whether it was something banally human like a viral or bacterial infection, or something altogether unrelated and specific only to someone whose DNA had been fucked with.

Chin's and Danny's eyes met and held, neither knowing what to do, neither wanting to give voice to the fears their looks told each other they shared.

"I know what's wrong with him." The voice startled them. They turned as one, watching as Catherine crouched near them. "Someone tried to administer corrective antigens but wasn't able to finish the procedure, right?"

Danny's eyes widened, then narrowed. "How do we know you're really Lieutenant Rollins?" he asked, voice steady in spite of his worries.

She looked right at him. "They had a clone of me on the chopper," she explained, and then proceeded to tell the men exactly what she'd explained to Steve after rescuing him from the crate.

"That's a pretty fantastic tale," Chin observed, watching her warily when she'd finished. "The fact still remains that _we_ don't know for sure you are who you say you are."

Danny raised an eyebrow as his eyes met Cat's again. Her shoulders slumped as she sat down hard. The first rays of sun were just beginning to lighten the jungle around them, so they were able to see her facial features. To Danny, she looked lost. To Chin, she just looked defeated.

"I know what they did to him," she said quietly. "I know that what's happening with him right now is the result of a half-assed attempt to undo the changes to his mitochondrial DNA." Danny opened his mouth to ask how the hell she could know anything about this, but she stopped him with a raised hand. "Right now all you can do is keep him warm until it passes. Keep him warm, and let me explain."

Without a word, Chin helped Danny turn Steve around, and then shoved himself up against Steve's left side while Danny plastered himself to Steve's right. The men curled their bodies into Steve's, arms wrapping around his back, the back of his neck, his chest and his abdomen. Their legs moved forward, knees bent, trying to cover Steve's knees, shins and feet. It took some more manipulation of Steve's body to get him as covered as they could without flat-out lying down and appearing to engage in a _ménage à trois_.

"This had better be good," Danny muttered pointedly as Catherine criss-crossed her legs, placed her hands palm-flat on her thighs and began to speak.

"I'm two years older than Steve," she said. "I visited Annapolis to guest-lecture in the Professional Communication course. Steve was in his last year. We crossed paths walking between buildings, and," she shrugged, "one thing led to another."

Danny and Chin shifted uncomfortably, but both noticed Steve had gone from full-blown shivering to much less violent trembling. They squeezed into his body a little harder, willing him to warm up.

"When my CO discovered I'd become, uh…friendly…with Steve McGarrett, I suddenly found myself assigned to a base halfway around the world. I was still there two months later when Steve graduated with a double major in Chinese and Engineering. I wasn't allowed outside communications on that assignment, so I never spoke to him. But then suddenly, two weeks after graduation, there he was."

Frowning, Danny was about to make a comment on how he'd learned the hard way that nothing having to do with Steve was coincidental, but Catherine beat him to it.

"It wasn't until much later that I discovered he'd specifically requested the assignment to Naval Intelligence because he knew that's where I was. We had to keep our relationship secret, fraternization and all that. He was above me in rank, of course, having come out of Annapolis, which made it an even worse idea. But we couldn't stay away from each other." She smiled ruefully. "We were stupidly in love."

For a moment, Cat stared at Steve's face, then she tore her eyes away. "Anyway, we went our separate ways when Steve's interests led him to taking field missions. He never could hold still for very long. I'm actually surprised he's stayed in Hawaii as long as he has."

Danny and Chin exchanged looks. _They_ knew why Steve remained, because they were part of the reason.

"One of the things I knew about Steve was that we'd never actually become a traditional couple, you know? Never get married, have kids. Not unless I chose to leave the Navy altogether, and become wife and mother while he traveled the world on life-and-death assignments. Steve just can't be tied down like that. He wants a family, but he just…" She let out a sharp breath. "I'd come to terms with it, and we'd discussed it, agreeing to get together every time I could get away and he could get away. Over the years, those times became few and far between, but we still managed to keep it going somehow."

Cat sighed deeply and Danny's heart went out to her in spite of himself. She looked sad, much like he had when he'd truly realized he and Rachel were over.

"And then he became a SEAL, and it was nearly impossible to keep in touch with him. We managed to get together only four times in his first four years with them, but that all ended in his fifth year."

"Ended? You what, broke up?" Danny asked, noting with no small measure of happiness that Steve was no longer shivering, and was leaning mostly against Chin sleeping again.

Catherine bit her lip, eyes shifting from Danny's to Chin's and then down to Steve. "I was ordered to participate in an experiment being conducted by the most elite medical research team in the Navy," she explained, keeping her eyes on Steve's face. "I couldn't understand what they wanted from me, being a communications specialist, where medicine was concerned. But you follow orders, and that's that."

Danny snorted softly. "No kidding."

"Was this the experiment that turned Steve into…" Chin's voice trailed off, arms tightening around his former partner's son…and _his_ friend…protectively.

She nodded.

"What did you _do_?" Danny whispered. He was having to physically restrain himself because right now the neck of his partner's lover was something that looked like it needed strangling, but good.

Cat took a deep, shuddering breath, refusing to meet his or Chin's eyes. "One of my aptitudes as a Communications Specialist is documentation, more specifically, decoding, inscribing and re-coding classified or foreign documents. Half my time on the _Enterprise_ isn't actually spent actively monitoring incoming and outgoing comms. It's spent on Top Secret document-related encryption. I'm given papers, sometimes actual hard copies, sometimes digital, and I do what I do."

"I don't understand," Chin said, easing back a little off Steve now that he seemed to be warm enough. The sun was up in the sky, but the jungle canopy was keeping them partially shaded. One ray of light was hitting Chin in the eye and he shifted away from Steve a little more to get out of it. "If your specialty is the decoding and re-coding of documents, what did they want with you for this experiment?"

"The information in Tamara's files," Catherine said, and Danny remembered she'd seen some of it on the computer monitor the morning Steve announced he was turning himself into the Navy, "I would guess that at least seventy-five percent of that came from my work."

"Wait just a minute, hold on," Danny said, straightening himself and pulling off Steve long enough to stretch the kink out of his back. "Are you telling us that the gamma radiation blasts and the mitochondrial DNA replacement therapy came from some…ancient documents or something?"

She nodded. "Not ancient, exactly, but yes. _I__'__m_ the one who figured out the code. The documents originated in Germany during World War II, and were encoded in such a way that nobody had been able to decipher them. They gave me two pages of it while I was stationed in the Barents Sea about four years into Steve's active SEAL duty. Within three months, I'd properly decoded the papers. Six months later I was taken to the Middle East, wasn't even allowed to know my location. I was handed more files than you can imagine and told to get to work."

"These experiments," Chin asked, voice dropped to a whisper in disbelief, "came from Nazi _Germany_?"

"Jesus Christ on a fucking pogo stick," Danny growled.

"Yes," Cat replied. "I'm the one who gave them what they needed to figure out how to manipulate the men they manipulated. I'm the one who translated the exact amount of gamma rays, the exact duration, the exact location to bombard their bodies. _I__'__m_ the one who translated medical terms and charts and diagrams and data that they could read well enough to inject Steve and many other men with a solution designed to wake up dormant genes in our mitochondrial DNA."

"To transform the men into super soldiers," Chin finished for her.

"Something like that," she nodded. "But whether the information was incomplete to begin with, or it had never worked and should never have been attempted after Hitler's tries with it, I don't know. All I know is that all but two of the subjects died within months of the experiment, and only one…Steve…remained on active duty."

"But how did he not _know_ that they did this to him?" Danny asked. "How can a man not _know_ when he's injected and subjected to whatever the hell they did?"

"They were all kept sedated from the moment they stepped onto the Top Secret base we were located at, until the moment they were transferred back to an un-classified location. The other man that survived went clinically insane, and is still locked up in a sanitarium as far as I know."

"Oh, my _God_," Danny breathed, suddenly feeling more protective of his partner than he usually did of Grace. And wasn't that an altogether new and disturbing feeling.

"How could you _do_ this to someone you professed to _love_?" Chin asked, anger oozing from every pore of his normally Zen-like body. "How _could_ you?"

"I didn't know he was one of the subjects!" she cried, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I didn't find out until a month after he was gone that he'd ever been there to begin with! I was never in direct contact with any of the men they did this to. It was only later when they had me re-encrypting my decoded documents that I came across the list of subjects and recognized his enlistment ID."

Danny was man enough to admit that he felt equal parts sorry for her and that he still wanted to wring her neck. She had been following orders. She'd had no idea what she was decoding was actually going to be tried, and certainly hadn't had a clue it'd be tried on Steve. But still, when did following orders just not cut it anymore? When did it come to a point where you owned up to the fact that you were a _human_ _being_ and refused to take part in something so damaging, something so heinous to your fellow man?

"You _knew_," Danny seethed, hands balling into fists. It was looking more and more like strangling Cat was going to happen here. "You found _out_. Why didn't you _tell_ him?" He could feel himself starting shake with anger, but then he heard, "Danny?" and his head whipped down to his shoulder, where Steve was looking up at him through eyelids that were only half-open.

His anger dissipated within seconds, replaced by a flood of relief that almost left him giddy. "You and me, Partner, we need to have a talk about all this cuddling you've suddenly become so fond of."

Steve had the good grace to turn beet red and struggle to push off Danny, who only chuckled in response. Chin was grinning from ear-to-ear but Catherine looked like she was going to hurl from her own revelations.

Blinking his eyes a few times as they adjusted to the light that was now bright enough that even the trees above them couldn't shade it altogether from their faces, Steve looked at Catherine. She held his eyes for a moment, then looked down, studying the soles of her shoes.

"I have a photographic memory," she said quietly. "It's something nobody knows, not even my superiors. I kept it hidden because I was afraid they'd put me into one of those experimental mind control programs or something," she continued bitterly. When she raised her eyes, it was to look directly into Steve's. Steve, who hadn't a clue what she was talking about, but was listening with rapt attention.

"I remember every word that I decoded," she whispered. "That's why I know that if we don't get Steve the other half of the treatment that they started giving him to undo the effects of the experiment…"

"What?" Danny asked, leaning forward and rethinking the whole strangling-her thing.

Her eyes shifted from Steve's to Danny's. "If we don't finish giving him the treatment, he's going to die."

* * *

><p><em>Terms:<em>

_ménage à trois__ – _a French phrase describing a situation in which three people having sexual relations live together; sometimes loosely used to describe a threesome (sexual)


	28. Chapter 28

**CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT**

"Danny?" Everyone turned to find Rachel pulling herself shakily to her feet. "What…?"

He hated himself for it. Danny absolutely, unequivocally _hated_ himself for the way he jumped to his feet and was at her side in an instant. Like she was still his wife, like he was still obliviously happy with her and little Grace back in New Jersey. Like he didn't know that even _that_ had been nothing more than a staged event, a lie. That he'd been used so thoroughly and effectively, and then discarded the moment he was no longer needed.

That right now, the child the two of them had created together was hiding out somewhere with a quasi-criminal (albeit a very nice one) and Steve's little sister (also quite nice, for the record).

That Kono was in the hospital with a head injury because of this madness.

That Steve was a monster because of the single most unbelievable conspiracy Danny had ever heard of.

He really hated himself for putting his arm around her and gathering her to him as she shivered. From fear or from cold, he couldn't be sure. But he couldn't just turn off his emotions. He'd _never_ been able to just turn off his emotions. Even for a Williams, Danny was considered a little extreme in his baring of them on a near-constant basis. Matt had used to—

Danny nearly choked on the thought. Matt wasn't his brother. And yet, emotionally, he always _had_ been, even though at the end he'd looked more than happy to end Danny's life. What was _wrong_ with him that he could still grieve for someone so cold? That he could still want to hold someone like Rachel after what she'd done?

The thought occurred to him that maybe _he_ was more emotionally stunted than Steve, and that maybe he was projecting his own shortcomings when he gave his partner shit about that.

Yeah. He hated himself right now.

"What was that _thing_ I saw?" Rachel asked, pulling herself away from him and attempting to smooth out her filthy and ruined silk slacks and blouse. She noted her stocking feet ruefully, and Danny imagined she was probably bemoaning the loss of her two thousand dollar heels.

Looking to the side where Chin was helping Steve to unsteady feet, Danny watched his partner as he composed himself. It was surreal how he could so clearly see the walls coming back up, as though Steve was rebuilding his persona brick by brick. There were cracks in those bricks now. It seemed like every time Steve changed, another tiny crack was there as he slowly put himself back together. Danny wondered if he was the only one who could see it. From the look on Chin's face, he doubted it.

"I'm sorry," Catherine said, and all eyes turned to her.

"What the devil's going on?" Rachel demanded.

Danny nearly snarled when he whipped around to look at her. "You say _nothing_," he hissed. "_You_ have done _enough_."

She blanched and seemed to shrink into herself. It was the first time Danny had ever confronted her with anything other than shouting matches that were always doing nothing more than hiding how much her rejection hurt him. It was the first time he no longer felt hurt.

Now, he was just angry. And she knew it.

"I didn't hear whatever you told Chin and Danny," Steve said, and his voice was now strong. "But if you know how to finish the reversal, if you know _anything_ that can help me, Cat…"

"I know what the documents said about reversing the experiment," she stated. "About how it failed, about how all the trials and errors affected the test subjects."

Steve winced at the term.

Chin glared at Catherine. "What do you need to administer the other half of the cure?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"It's way beyond my ability to—"

"You listen to _me_," Danny growled, stalking to where she stood, grabbing her arm and whirling her to face him. "I have lost nearly _everything_ and Steve _has_ lost everything. My little girl is out there _somewhere_ on this island without me, having to _hide_ because of _you_," he spat, then flung a hand in Rachel's direction, "and _her_ and your precious Navy and _her_ goddamn father and fucking _Wo_ Fat and goddamn _Jameson_, and I am about _this __fucking __close_," he held his thumb and forefinger a half-inch apart, "from throttling _both_ of you where you stand so you tell us what you know, how to _fix_ this and _maybe_ I won't fucking shoot you after it's all over and done with, you _get_ me?"

He could feel that his face was on fire. Hell, he felt like his entire _body_ was on fire. He caught Chin's wide eyes, and Steve's even wider ones. Catherine looked like she was torn between wanting to assault him with some undoubtedly Navy-originating kick-ass move, and slinking away into the jungle to hide.

"Now," Danny said after taking a few calming breaths, "since all of us are on our feet, we are going to get the _hell_ out of this bug-infested nature preserve," his hand waving around to indicate their surroundings, "and back to enough civilization that we can get Steve to a hospital or a lab or whatever the _fuck_ we need to make this happen. All right?"

"Jesus, Danny," Steve breathed, and Danny half-expected to find a look of reproach on his friend's face. What he found was a smile, and he caught himself fighting to give one right back. Wouldn't do much for the show of bravado to look so fucking happy that your partner wasn't dead.

_Yet_, his mind supplied and there went the urge to smile, right out the proverbial window.

"Let's go," Chin said. "Can you walk on your own?" he asked Steve.

"Yeah, I'm good now, thanks."

Chin nodded and moved toward Catherine. "Oh, no," Danny said, stopping Chin in his tracks. "You're with her." He pointed back at Rachel. "I might be too tempted to do something I'll regret later."

Chin held out his arm toward Rachel. She summoned up as much dignity as she could find, glared at Danny, and marched past them along the road.

"After you," Danny said to Catherine, who spared a glance at Steve before stepping in behind Chin. Danny looked at Steve. "Come on, let's go."

"Wait," Steve said, holding out a hand toward him before letting it fall back to his side.

"What?"

"What did you mean before, when you said…about the…"

Danny frowned as Steve's obvious discomfort. "About the what?"

Steve murmured something so low it was inaudible.

"Didn't hear that, the _what_?"

"The cuddling!" Steve practically yelled, causing the three people down the road a ways to turn and look back at them. Steve's entire face turned beet red.

"Oh," Danny said, biting his lip to keep from grinning. "Well, it just seems like when you go all green on us, you get…clingy."

"Clingy."

"Clingy." Danny paused, waiting for that to sink in. "I've got a theory about that, though," he continued, moving to follow the others.

Steve fell into step right beside him. "What theory is that? Something that's designed to embarrass me even more?"

"No, Christ, not _everyone_ is out to get you, McGarrett."

Steve scowled. "_Nearly_ everyone."

"Fair point," Danny nodded. "Do you want to hear my theory or just pretend like I didn't accuse you of cuddling?"

Steve's face turned even redder. Danny chuckled.

"Fine, okay, what's your theory?"

"My theory, my friend, is this: when you change into the Hulk, your brain, which, and I have told you this many a time, is barely above the level of child-like on your _best_ days—" Steve spluttered indignantly but Danny mowed right past it. "—becomes so backwards that you are processing information like a three year-old child."

"Three, Danny? What, you're telling me I act like a toddler?"

"Not _act_ like a toddler, I guess," Danny said thoughtfully as the rutted road became even bumpier. Ahead of them, Rachel stumbled a few times. Chin kept her upright. Danny was thinking he'd like to see her with teeth full of dirt right about now. "More like your comprehension level is that of a toddler. Sometimes you get what I'm saying to you, other times you don't. And you are _completely_ pre-verbal."

"_Pre_-verbal? What does that even mean?"

"Pre, as in prior to or before, verbal, as in the ability to speak. It's like you've de-evolved or something."

"So you mean I can't talk."

"I don't know if you _can_, but you _don__'__t_," Danny said with a sidelong glance at him. At least Steve's face wasn't red anymore. "And that's where this sort of…clingy and cuddly crap comes in. Oh, and the manhandling."

"_Man_handling? Christ, Danny, you make me sound like a sex offender."

"_That_ I would have no insight to," Danny replied, trying like hell to keep his voice as light as possible. "But you…well, you kind of…" Steve came to a complete stop. Danny was three steps ahead of him before he realized his partner was no longer by his side. He turned. "What?"

"Whatever it is you're doing a really good job of not telling me using ten thousand words more than are necessary, Danny, is making you really uncomfortable. So tell me now, before we get out of this jungle, what the hell did I do to you?"

Danny blinked. "_Do_ to me?"

"Yes," Steve nodded, and was standing directly in front of him in two long strides. "What did I do to you that you don't want to tell me I did to you?"

Danny's mouth opened and shut, and his hands started moving in ways he wasn't even orchestrating and he felt his _own_ face turn beet red. "You didn't…_do_…anything! You just…it's how you look at me, how you look…_to_ me."

"How I look _to_ you."

"Yes."

Steve was getting really frustrated. Any other time Danny would be proclaiming to all of mankind precisely what his current issue with Steve was. Now? Suddenly it was like pulling goddamn teeth.

"How do I look _to_ you, then?"

"Like I'm…" Danny looked away, ran a hand through his hair, felt really grungy and wished he had a hot shower and a nice, soft bed to sleep in for a few decades, and met Steve's eyes. "You look at me the way Grace did when she was little. Like you're…just…a _child_. Like you don't know anything about anything except what I tell you, and you don't even _understand_ what I tell you, but you follow me like a stray puppy and you _man_handle me, Steven. You pick me up and friggin' _carry_ me like some damsel in distress, you wrap these huge, green, ridiculously _massive_, have I mentioned, arms around me, you take bullets for me, you…"

Danny's voice trailed off. Steve wasn't embarrassed anymore, at least, not like before. He looked…well, shit. Danny couldn't decipher _that_ face to save his life.

"Come on," Steve said, moving quickly along the road to catch up with Chin and the women.

"Come on? That's it? That's what you're going with?"

"At least I'm going," Steve shot back over his shoulder, forcing Danny to practically sprint to catch up with him. "I'm sorry," Steve muttered when Danny was finally matching him step-for-step again.

"I don't want you to be sorry," Danny replied. "It's not your fault. You don't know what you're doing when you're hulked-out, okay?"

"Then why did you bring it up?"

"Just so you'd know, that's all." He frowned. "And _you__'__re_ the one who brought it up."

Steve looked at him for a moment, but said nothing.

Danny was glad, because if he hadn't felt like twelve different shades of the 'Idiot' Rainbow during that particular rant, he didn't even know what. At least things weren't awkward after all of it.

Then again, they were nearly jogging through the middle of a rainforest praying they weren't going to get attacked or shot or caught right now, so they might all have been a bit distracted from awkward for the moment.

The thing Danny didn't see, but that Steve was fully aware of, was how Catherine kept sending weird looks their way.

* * *

><p>Once they'd made it close enough to a relay tower for Chin's cell phone to pick up a signal, Danny had placed a call to the disposable cell phone he'd given Kamekona (<em>God, <em>_was __that __only __yesterday?_) and had found out he, Mary and Grace were perfectly safe hiding out among all the tourists near Kaiaka Bay. This meant Grace was having the time of her life with Mary in the water, Danny just about having a meltdown until Kamekona convinced the little girl to get _out_ of the water and talk to her father.

Kids.

She was fine. At least, she _sounded_ fine, and Danny kept the conversation light. Yes, he'd found Mommy and Uncle Steve and Aunt Kono. Aunt Kono was hurt, but she would be okay once the doctors finished taking real good care of her. Uncle Chin was fine and Uncle Steve was doing well considering he was Uncle Steve…which earned Danny a nice glare from said uncle…and Mommy was fine.

Danny put Rachel on the phone because Grace insisted.

Whatever it was Grace said to her, made Rachel burst into tears.

Now Danny hated himself for a whole host of different reasons than before. He didn't want to tear Rachel from Grace's life. The little girl needed her mom, no matter what kind of person her mom was. But Danny would never be able to trust Rachel again. Never. He huffed out a sigh and tried to push that all out of his mind. He'd deal with it…later.

"Catherine, what do we need to know about Steve's condition? About reversing the whole thing?"

"I was just talking with Chin. He said, Steve, that you told them Tamara's doctor administered something from a syringe."

"Yes," Steve responded, stoic SEAL face firmly in place. "But they didn't get the entire syringe emptied into me before being shot to death."

"So you didn't get the entire dose," Catherine muttered, and for all the world her eyes almost seemed like they were looking inward. Danny guessed it was her accessing her photographic memory. It looked a little like a computer doing some processing, and how creepy was that, anyway.

"Then I honestly don't know whether you got enough to reverse the effect on your DNA. Look, guys, I am no doctor, no scientist. I only know what the reports said, the notes, the data." She took a deep breath. "The first round of the cure is to administer a manufactured agent that is supposed to shut off the DNA they activated the first time around."

"What's the second part of it?" Steve asked.

"It's based on the theory that the radioactive isotope Caesium-137 is responsible for emitting gamma rays. Before they bombarded you with the gamma radiation itself, they injected you with this isotope, which remains in your system for over thirty years unless it's flushed out. Every time your trigger happens, every time the gene they awakened in your DNA flips on, the constant gamma emission from the isotopes in your system exacerbates it, reacts with it."

"That's what causes the metamorphosis," Steve clarified.

"Theoretically," Catherine nodded.

"So what's the way to get rid of the gamma rays I'm apparently emitting like a radio tower?" Steve asked testily.

"You have to be treated like any other victim of radiation poisoning," Catherine answered. "You see, if they were successful in administering enough of the gene-activation reversal serum, that means the gene that is triggered by whatever causes you to change, is going to misfire more often than not."

"I get it," Chin interjected. "The changes in that DNA, the changes his body goes through, absorbs the gamma radiation being omitted by the isotope."

Catherine nodded. "Exactly! If that gene starts misfiring, and Steve isn't able to actually go through the change, the gamma rays will start poisoning his own system because they have no outlet."

"Meaning what he's going to die from is radiation poisoning, pure and simple," Danny concluded.

Catherine's face fell. "I'm afraid so. The more you successfully morph, the better it is for you right now, to be honest. It'll keep absorbing and using the gamma radiation your own body is producing. Normally, in order to keep you irradiated, you would have to be dosed with gamma rays every seventy days. But the combination of the DNA mutation and the isotopes and gamma blasts you received during the experiment enabled your body to create its own fresh supply, constantly."

Danny watched as Rachel tearfully hung up the phone and handed it back to him. He suddenly felt empty inside. Hollow.

All this, and Tamara trying to help may have been the thing that was going to kill Steve. When he met Steve's eyes, he knew his partner was having the same thoughts. They were fugitives from the Navy, from HPD. And yet somehow they were supposed to get Steve into a cancer treatment center and start a weekly regimen to remove radioactive isotopes from his body.

"How do we do this?" Danny asked, scrubbing a hand over the ridiculous beard that was growing scruffy from neglect on his face and neck. "How do we get rid of that isotope from his body?"

"It's called Prussian blue," Cat replied. "He needs to have it injected into his bloodstream to flush the Caesium-137 from his body. The problem is, since it's been over three years since the initial dose you received, Steve," she explained, turning to face him, "a significant amount of the isotope has already decayed into Barium-137. That isotope is responsible for all gamma ray emissions in the entire universe."

"Which means?" Chin prodded, head spinning as much as Danny's was with all the mumbo-jumbo Cat was spouting.

"It means," Cat said, "that even though Barium-137 has only a two-point-five minute half-life, it has already been binding with the cells of your organs in large doses, and who knows what else. It causes changes inside you, changes that Hitler's scientists didn't fully document."

"Are you saying," Steve asked, face still a mask of stone, "that no matter what we try to do to save my life from this clusterfuck of an experiment, I'm pretty much a walking dead man no matter which way you slice it?"

Catherine couldn't bring herself to answer.

She didn't have to.


	29. Chapter 29

**CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE**

"It's less than a mile to the end of Waihee Road," Chin announced.

Rachel looked like she was about to drop. Her silk clothes were damp with sweat as it neared 10:30 in the morning and the Hawaiian sun began its process of melting the day into submission.

Catherine had been quiet the entire walk, and all three men remained lost in their own thoughts throughout the latter half of the journey. Chin, for his part, had used some of the time to speak with Kono before the attending nurse had put an end to that one. Kono had reported that no one seemed the wiser about her true identity, and that she felt well enough to start thinking about signing out AMA.

Of course, Chin loudly – and uncharacteristically – explained to her that this was not an option, but when Kono told him her doctor had advised a police officer would be visiting her the following morning to take a statement regarding the injury she'd come in with, Chin toned it down and asked where he needed to meet her, and when.

Danny's thoughts had been pinging so hard from subject to subject that he'd finally given up and decided to think about the fact that he was hungry. Which didn't turn out so well given that his stomach had taken to loudly gurgling every forty to fifty seconds as a result. It was a little embarrassing, but when he heard Steve's and then Chin's gurgle in response, he didn't feel so bad.

And he was decidedly Not Thinking About Anything Else. Especially not about the fact that Steve was dying.

Steve could barely think at all. In his mind, he was trapped in a loop that just kept going 'round and 'round in endless circles, slowly collapsing in on itself like a dying star until at last he would implode. He would die.

Everything he'd done in his life, he'd done according to design. Someone else's plan. He'd loved and lost a mother who hadn't even borne him. He'd idolized a father who had clearly been in league with the very people who'd stolen what little control he'd ever had: that over his own body.

He wondered about his twin. He wondered how much alike they were just by virtue of having once been the same egg. And how different they were just by virtue of who had raised them. He had grown up in Hawaii, for the most part. Where had Steve, his twin, grown up? He'd put himself through some of the most rigorous physical training that existed within the U.S. Had Steve the Twin even _been_ in the U.S. until showing up in Hawaii? Did Steve the Twin know about the experiments before seeing his brother morph right in front of his eyes?

Where had he disappeared to after the morph? Catherine didn't know. Steve had been sure to ask as he'd relayed the story of what he remembered to Chin and Danny thirty minutes into the hike out of the jungle. She'd been hit by a tranq dart, which explained why she was out for so long. That was about all she knew.

Catherine. His feelings were so jumbled on her. Did he love her? Well, yes, of course he did. He had for years. So many years that he'd actually started thinking about a future that actually might involve a wife. Kids, maybe, though he was sure Danny would have a few things to say about that. The thought almost made him chuckle, but he bit it back. When he'd seen her at the top of the Clipper's staircase, he'd been _sure_ of it, so sure of _her_.

And yet _that_ hadn't been his Catherine at all. Everything he'd told her for two hours once the plane had taken off, every time he'd said "I love you" and kissed her and held her as she'd cried. That had all been for the clone, the woman who'd been somehow made into a perfect representation of the real Catherine.

So truly, how could Steve know that this Catherine, the one spouting scientific jargon that he'd _never_ heard his own Cat spout, was truly the one he'd always known? Danny had told him that his morphed self hadn't negatively reacted to her in the building, which he'd interpreted to mean this _was_ the real Cat, and not the fake one the monster had seemed so mistrustful of.

Anymore, it seemed the only people he could truly count on being who they said they were, were the members of his immediate _ohana_. There was never any mistaking Kamekona. Steve didn't think anyone could clone _him_ if they tried. And Grace was always Grace, and would always _be_ Grace. Mary was way too Mary for Steve to be fooled where she was concerned, he was certain of it.

Kono, Chin and Danny hadn't changed one bit. Steve was pretty sure he'd know if anyone had fucked with his friends. But if he was so certain about that, why wasn't he as certain where Catherine was concerned? He knew the answer already. He had known Cat since his Annapolis days. He'd slept with her an awful lot, and they'd even managed to spend some quality hours together as tourists in Coronado, once in Berlin and twice in Greece.

And yet for all the years they'd been carrying on their long-distance relationship, how well did he really _know_ her?

Clearly not as well as he'd once thought.

He knew his _ohana_ better. Other than Mary, whom he didn't see all that often, he had spent more hours with Chin, Kono, Danny, Grace and even Kamekona than he had with Catherine over the course of a thirteen-year relationship.

Did he love her? Yes.

But he didn't know her.

The thought made him feel hollow inside, like something he'd known he was just pretending was there, a bubble he'd carefully kept from bursting, had finally popped. He knew damn well she wasn't responsible for his condition and truly, he was glad she was the one who'd decoded the documents that led to the experiments on him to begin with. Because at least she had the knowledge from them about how to cure him.

If he could be cured at all.

Steve was pretty sure Danny and Chin also didn't really blame her for causing what happened to him, in spite of Danny's vehemence toward her. You did what you were told to do when you were in the military. How many people had Steve killed on Black Ops missions just because he was carrying out orders? How many innocents had lost their lives by his hand? How many men had died under his command? How many civilians had been maimed, tortured, murdered, all because he either had to or could not do something due to following his superiors' commands?

In his mind, sometimes, if he were honest with himself, he thought he was no better than the scumbags he and Five-0 put in jail. And in many cases, far worse.

Could Cat have said no once she realized what she was decoding? Sure, if she wanted to be charged with insubordination and spend the rest of her military career mopping piss from the floors of some enlisted men's quarters in the middle of nowhere. Just as Steve could have told his CO to go fuck himself when he was ordered to blow up a foreign embassy to get rid of a terrorist threat to the United States. Never mind that there were five women and eight children in the building when it exploded.

Steve wasn't proud of some of the things he'd done. But the one thing he'd always had to hold onto, was the pride he'd felt in serving his country. In putting his life in danger halfway around the world so the people back home in Hawaii – _all_United States citizens – could be free to live their lives. Could be free of terrorist threats and shoe-bombers and men like the Hesse brothers. The things he'd done that most people he knew would consider nothing less than murder, or torture, or just plain uncivilized had all been made palatable because he was doing his duty. His job.

Now?

Now, Steve didn't even have that.

The only thing that had been true and real? Not Five-0, certainly. Not when it had all been concocted for the governor to keep Steve under a watchful eye, and to get him into the same sphere as her and Wo Fat. No, the only thing that had been real out of any of this, was the friendships he had formed with his team.

A team that he'd welcomed a CIA agent named Jenna Kaye into with open arms. Danny and Chin had told him about what she'd said. What she'd uncovered about Cat, and they'd mulled over whether or not it was true, murmuring quietly amongst themselves far enough away from Catherine and Rachel that they couldn't be overheard as they made their way along the road.

So even Jenna had been a monumental mistake, apparently working for both the CIA _and_ Wo Fat. Who knew how much information she'd leaked to him over her time with them? Her one saving grace in Steve's mind was the fact that she'd been the one who'd gotten the information they'd needed to save Danny's life when he'd been poisoned with sarin and nearly died from it.

That was the one thing that, if he ever laid eyes on her again, _might_ keep him from killing her where she stood.

His mind wandered to what Danny had said about how he acted when morphed. He looked at Danny the way Grace had when she was little, he'd said. It was embarrassing enough that Steve felt his cheeks grow hot, but at the same time he supposed it made perfect sense. If his mind did indeed revert back to functioning at the same level it had when he was a small child, it seemed like a no-brainer that Danny was the one he'd look to for guidance.

After all, Danny exuded 'father' from every pore. Steve had seen it over and over again any time Grace was around, or even any time Danny was just talking about her. It was like he'd been made for it, like nothing in the whole world made him happier than actively being her Danno. And, of course, because they were partners, Steve already relied on Danny to have his back all the time. In fact, his favorite saying that Danny threw in his face at least once every couple of weeks was that Danny was his back-up.

From the moment he'd met the man, he'd known he could trust him. If he'd had to explain it to anyone, the only thing he could've come up with was that he didn't _know_ why. He only knew that it was something he felt deep in his gut, the way you know for certain that the sun will rise in the east and set in the west. The way you know for certain that you _can_ kill a man with a toothpick, dental floss and a nickel. Danny may have joked about it, but it was actually true.

Yeah, he'd had the Navy to thank for becoming someone who could kill in more ways than most people ever could fathom existed. Now, he also had them to thank for becoming _more_ of a monster. Sure, there was pride to be had still over what he'd made it through to become a SEAL. All the things he'd done to earn his ribbons, medals, stars, awards, commendations. But what did all of that mean, really, when the ones who'd given all of it to you were, as soon as you looked the other direction, fucking you over?

There was really no way to reconcile all of this in his mind, and so Steve decided the best he could do right now was put into practice something else the Navy had taught him. Silently he visualized opening a little box inside of his mind. A box made of titanium and painted black. A box where all of his emotions, all of his pain, all of his questions and all of his love got tucked away. One by one each was placed reverently within.

One by one, he forced himself to look away from each as it disappeared into the bottomless black pit of his mind.

And when he closed the box, and secured the huge, unbreakable padlock to lock it, he resisted the urge to tear it back open.

Steve had gotten used to finally allowing himself to feel pride, and joy and love.

But if he was going to die, then he couldn't afford to spare the energy those things took.

So now he'd have to get used to _un_feeling it.

If Danny or Chin noticed the change in his demeanor as they neared Waihee Road, neither mentioned it. He prayed neither would.

Steve quickly told them he was stepping into the jungle cover to take a leak. He just needed a few minutes away from Danny's watchful eyes.

It was time to get his shit together before his time just up and ran out.

* * *

><p><em>Terms:<em>

_AMA_ – Against Medical Advice


	30. Chapter 30

_Author's Note: So as you can see, I'm a little late posting this chapter today, and I have a legitimate reason! It's because yours truly, the one known here as TB's LMC, has just officially become a novelist! My new book "Takers" is now available (Amazon Kindle format only right now) on Amazon's website. If you search Science Fiction or Fantasy Books for TAKERS by Chris Davis, you can find it._

_So for those of you who enjoy my writing, maybe go have a look. Especially if you liked my 'Hawaii Five-0' story "If I Was Your Vampire."_

_You can also just check out my author profile, which now has my author's blog website on it, and there's a link from there directly to the page on Amazon with my novel._

_Don't worry, I'm not going to stop writing fan fiction just because I'm a "published author" now. I just thought you might like to know!_

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER THIRTY<strong>

They'd managed to get everyone back together by that evening, including Kono who had indeed checked out AMA, and Kamekona, Mary and Grace. Grace was ecstatic to see both her parents, but Danny had warned Rachel not to make any promises where her future or Grace's were concerned.

Rachel had kept to her end of the deal thus far, and without even being asked, Mary was the one supervising to make sure of it. Danny was grateful, but he was so preoccupied as he and Steve worked together to grill fish and vegetables for everyone's dinner, he just didn't have it in him to outright thank her.

Catherine was brooding in one of the two bedrooms of the small beach bungalow Kamekona had found somehow through one of his hundreds of island contacts. It was where he'd been keeping Mary and Grace since being entrusted with them the day before. Nobody had asked who or how he found it, and he wasn't telling.

Chin was fussing over Kono to the point where she was threatening him with bodily harm, but grinning through every minute of it.

Steve had been more closed-off than Danny had seen him in a long, long time. He'd said barely ten words since they'd arrived at the bungalow, but Danny hadn't pushed. Being told you were dying had to be given a modicum of respect, and if Steve chose to handle it by not talking about it, well, it's not like that was really anything new.

And so the partners worked silently side-by-side, content to pretend they were all safe for the moment. Until...

One long slice of carrot threatened to fall from the paper plate Steve had just put it on. Hot and slippery from the grill, it began to slide. Steve's right hand moved quickly to catch it, but the combined movement of his hand, arm, torso and the plate made him catch his right two fingers on the sizzling hot grates.

He howled in pain. Danny jumped, took the plate out of his partner's left hand and tossed it onto the nearby patio table, then turned back to grab Steve's injured hand. "What happened?" he asked breathlessly, the daylights having just been scared out of him.

That's when Steve growled.

Danny looked up at him, eyes wide.

Steve bared his teeth and growled again, eyes boring into Danny's.

"Babe, no," Danny breathed, though he knew there wasn't anything Steve could do about it. "Not here."

Steve shook his head and blinked. Suddenly it was like all the walls he'd erected started crumbling away. He growled again, chest heaving as though he was going through an obstacle course at top speed.

And that's when Danny saw it: fear.

Echoing in the mutable colorings of Steve's eyes. Displayed when his mouth opened and Danny's name rumbled forth from his chest as more of a grunted gravelly expletive than a word.

The now-familiar glow encompassed Steve's entire body. Danny looked around frantically. They were surrounded by other bungalows, by enough tourists that Steve morphing hadn't a chance in hell of going unnoticed. He hurried Steve back inside just as Chin and Kono started toward them, both realizing something was wrong.

"Oh, God, not now," Kono whispered, clutching Chin's arm.

The Mazda 3 was parked on the other side of the bungalow from the beach, not five feet from the access road that led to Kamehameha Highway. But Danny didn't want to chance trying to drive a smallish sedan with a hulking-out Steve. So he did the only thing he could think to do, paying no attention as both Rachel and Grace called out his name. Mary ran through the side door after them just long enough to recognize the set of Danny's shoulders as nothing but pure tension.

Her body went rigid as she kept Rachel and Grace from following, telling them everything would be fine, that Grace's Danno and Uncle Steve were just going to check something out and would be back soon. Rachel's glare made it clear she knew there was something else going on, but she kept her mouth shut even as Grace questioned her on it.

Danny kept hold of Steve's hand, pulling and pulling him even as he felt that hand begin to move. Not move as in the wiggling of fingers, but move as in shift. Grow.

_Shit shit shit shit!_

Along the backs of fancy beach houses they ran until Danny saw their saving grace: a long, long pier that led to a gigantic thatch-roofed hut way out in the ocean. His quick looks told him no one was out there, and he hoped like hell it stayed that way.

His feet flew from the sand to wooden planks, a muted roar the only indication he had that Steve was still changing.

The pier was a whole mile long. It was the fastest mile Danny had ever run in his life.

By the time they reached the oversized hut, Danny was completely out of breath. Steve wasn't even winded. And he wasn't Steve anymore.

Yet he wasn't the Hulk yet either.

Danny frowned, looking at the man who stood before him. A couple of inches taller, yes. Skin tinged a little bit green? Yes. But not the deep, rich green it usually had gotten to by this point. Steve's eyes closed, mouth hanging open. When a high-pitched whine came from his throat, Danny felt his chest tighten.

In the very moment Steve realized something was wrong, Danny did, too.

Steve's eyelids snapped open and his breath started coming too fast. Danny lunged forward and took his weight as best he could as Steve collapsed. They fell slowly, inexorably to the floor, Danny's legs finally buckling under his partner's additional weight.

"What's wrong?" Danny panted, fighting to push Steve off him enough to breathe. "Steve, what's _wrong_?"

The voice that emanated from Steve's mouth was neither his own, nor the creature's, but a mix of the two. Low, gut-deep, and yet with the unmistakable higher tone of Steve somehow intermingled.

"I…don't…I'm not…_Danny_!"

Steve reached out blindly, desperately, and Danny steadied him as best he could. Unable to tear his eyes away from Steve's face, he resisted the urge he felt to panic and instead focused on assessing Steve's current state.

That was easy. He was only half-changed.

And then a roar temporarily deafened Danny. A roar of sheer agony.

Steve clutched at him like somehow he believed Danny could save him from this, from whatever it was that hurt so _bad_.

_You look at me the way Grace did when she was little._

Steve's face was twisted. Whether in fury or in pain, Danny couldn't tell, but he was moving, moving, constantly moving, scrabbling, like he could crawl into safety somehow, there, in Danny's arms.

_Like you're just a child._

"He's…I took…" he growled. "Help…"

Danny felt himself start to lose the battle with his own fears. Surely Steve couldn't be dying now. Not here. Not like this. _No__no__no__no_…

"Stay with me," Danny begged, not caring that he was. "Please, Steve, look at me."

He took the mal-formed face in his hands, focusing only on his partner's eyes. He could almost see straight through as Steve fought for control where there was none to be had. Fought for composure, fought to contain what Danny knew damn well he'd spent the whole hike back to civilization walling off from the world.

A soft croak from Steve's throat as he broke, slumping forward into Danny's arms, too hard, too fast, throwing them both onto the floor. Danny just barely managed to get his shins out from under his own thighs so Steve's bulk didn't snap his legs at the knees.

Air rushed from his chest as Steve landed heavily on him. Pushed him off when it became too hard to breathe. Forced Steve onto his back on the dusty, damp wooden floor, praying no one else had heard Steve's cries, that no one else was coming. That Chin and Kono were keeping the others away from this.

Because Danny had seen Steve morph the most of anyone, but this? This…_thing_…lying before him looking lost, scared, and utterly _horrific_…this shouldn't be seen by anyone. _Any_one.

Steve looked as though he'd been put together by spare parts. One cheekbone was higher and more prominent than the other. His skin partially glowed, a sickly pale pea green soup color that made him look radioactive.

_Radioactive…_

"Oh, my God!" Danny exclaimed as Catherine's words came back to him.

That was it, it _had_ to be. The serum Tamara's doctor had given Steve, maybe it _had_ worked. Maybe Steve's morphing gene was damaged. Or maybe it hadn't been enough and it was partially turning the gene off, not letting it switch on all the way.

And Steve was radiating gammas. He couldn't morph all the way. Triggered by the pain of having burned his fingers on the grill, the gene had wanted to switch on, but it wasn't working right, and now Steve's body was being flooded by the radiation that wanted to feed the mutation.

"Jesus Christ," Danny breathed.

Because there wasn't a goddamn thing he could do. Nothing. This was completely outside any capabilities he had to help.

Only…maybe not.

Steve's eyes, squeezed shut as he'd trembled, as tears had leaked out the corners of them, reached his hand out. Smaller than the Hulk's, larger than Steve's. Hair down to his shoulders, wavy, but still the color of Steve's. Muscles only half as big as the Hulk's, clothes too tight but not ripping this time.

He reached out and took Danny's hand.

"Steve…"

Maybe, Danny thought, he could keep Steve here, right here in the moment, right here with him long enough that Steve wouldn't die on the floor of some hut with waves lapping against the wooden pillars that held it aloft.

"_God_," Danny choked, fighting like hell, the backs of his eyes stinging fiercely.

He held Steve's eyes. _Willing_ him to live through this. If anyone's body could handle it, his could. Right?

"Steven J. McGarrett, don't you _leave __me_!" Danny ordered, hands grasping the larger one even as Steve squeezed right back, groaning from deep in his belly, a sound so low it rumbled through the core of Danny's being.

"No…" Danny whispered.

"Not…_him_…"

Danny barely heard Steve's words. He didn't care that tears were rolling down his cheeks. Steve hadn't asked for this. He didn't _deserve_ this.

"Wish I'd…known…you," Steve ground out.

Then his hand went limp.

Danny felt the choked sob building and didn't bother to hold it back.

The waves of the ocean continued to lap against the wood.

* * *

><p>Danny wasn't quite sure how long he'd stayed there, but it was long enough that Steve's hand had cooled in his. Long enough that his body had returned to looking like Steve was supposed to look. Long enough that Danny had wept himself to exhaustion.<p>

Long enough that Chin and Kono had come looking for them.

And found them.

Kono gasped, eyes filling with tears that spilled out and ran rivers down her cheeks.

Chin's lower lip quivered and then his eyes closed and he turned away.

Sinking to her knees next to their former boss, Kono leaned over and placed her forehead against an unmoving chest. The sounds of her soft sobs echoed around the hut. Chin still had his back to them.

Danny couldn't _breathe_.

He felt nothing but cold. Empty.

Grace.

How the _hell_ was he going to tell Grace?

Steve was gone.

That meant the Navy wouldn't be after him, trying to get their hands on him for more tests, whatever the fuck it was they'd been trying to do with him in California.

It meant Steve was free.

Kono cried softly, and when he looked up, Danny saw Chin hadn't been able to fight it any more than she had. He joined them, kneeling next to Kono, laying a hand on Steve's leg.

Danny looked at where his hands still held tightly to Steve's. He couldn't let go.

He just couldn't.

Kono choked out a sob, her hand reaching out to grasp Steve's left bicep tightly. Trying to hold on somehow, Danny thought. He knew the feeling, kneeling there with Steve's hand still in his.

She hiccupped a gasp and pulled her hand away.

The colors of Steve's tattoo covered her palm, leaving a smudge on his arm.

Danny looked at Steve's face. Something flesh-colored was smeared all over his right eyebrow. Makeup, Danny realized, sweat-mopped away and leaving a small groove that separated that eyebrow in half. A scar…

The cousins' eyes met.

Danny looked up at them, jaw dropped in disbelief.

In _relief_.

It wasn't him.


	31. Chapter 31

**CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE**

It took more than a handful of minutes for Danny to process himself from blinding grief and emptiness to brilliant, sparkling hopefulness to the realization that just because this was Steve's _twin_, apparently, didn't mean _their_ Steve was actually alive somewhere.

"What are we going to do with him?" Kono asked. "We can't leave him here."

Chin swallowed hard. "I can't believe he was a…creature…too."

Danny looked down at the duplicate's face, then finally let go of Not-Steve's hand, reached out and rubbed the top of his right bicep tattoo with the sleeve of his shirt.

_I…don't…I'm not…_

Sure enough, the color came away on the fabric, leaving regular skin behind.

_Not…him…_

Danny reached up and touched the groove of the scar that went from the middle of Not-Steve's forehead through his eyebrow and ended above his upper eyelid. When he pulled his fingers away, they were covered in flesh-colored foundation.

_Wish I'd…known…you…_

"He was trying to tell me he wasn't McGarrett," Danny said softly. "Right before he died."

He felt his body just sag, to the point where he had to steady himself on the floorboards with his hands palm-flat over their smooth finish. Air whooshed out of his lungs and came out sounding like, "It's not _him_."

"Thank God," Kono breathed in response.

Chin just swallowed again.

They heard footsteps.

Chin and Kono instinctively moved in front of Not-Steve's body, trying to shield him from prying eyes.

"It's Catherine," Chin said quietly over his shoulder.

Danny's mind raced as he rose to his full height. He saw her coming toward them at a jog. Kono and Chin looked up at him.

"Danny, what are we going to do?" Kono whispered.

That's when it came to him.

He knew _exactly_ what to do.

"Follow my lead," Danny whispered back. "Keep the sad faces on." He quickly bent over and unrolled the sleeves of the tee shirt Not-Steve wore, enough that they covered the fake tattoos. He quickly smoothed some of the lingering make-up back over as much of Not-Steve's scar as he could, then righted himself.

Chin and Kono shot a confused look between them as Catherine loped the rest of the way into the hut.

"What's going on?" she asked breathlessly. "Where's Ste-?"

That's when she saw him. "Oh, my _God_!"

Solemnly, Danny and the cousins backed away and allowed Catherine to grieve. They kept looking at each other, Danny almost marveling at the silent communication the three of them were capable of.

His plan had to work.

Because if their Steve was still alive out there somewhere, the only way Danny could protect him was to let his enemies think he was dead.

Somehow, he suspected if they could convince Catherine of that fact, the Navy would believe it, too.

"Cat," Danny said, moving forward, feigning sincerity as best he could, "I need you to go back to the beach house. Tell Kamekona and Mary but do _not_ let Grace or Rachel overhear, do you understand me?"

Catherine looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. "It's all my fault," she whispered. "If I'd told him earlier…"

Danny felt his teeth grinding together. Now was not the time. They had too much to do, and needed Cat out of the way to do it. "Please, just go back to the beach house."

Cat nodded, took one last look at the cold body on the floor, and walked away.

"That was too easy," Chin whispered.

"You think she knows it's not Steve?" Kono asked, glancing over her shoulder at Catherine's retreating form.

"Hard to tell. I don't know her well enough to have an inventory of her tells, but I agree with Chin that it was way too easy," Danny replied, running a hand through his hair. "Okay, here's what we need to do." He looked directly at Chin. "We haven't talked to Max since this whole shitstorm started, but I believe we can trust him."

"Agreed," Chin replied as Kono nodded.

"Call him, we need to make this as official as possible so that _everyone_ believes Steve is dead."

"On it," Chin said with a nod, moving away and dialing Max's number.

"Kono, one of your cousins works at the _Star-Advertiser_, right?"

"Yeah, Anela Natua. She just got hired on as a beat reporter."

"Okay, can she be trusted?"

"She's family, Danny. If I called _anyone_ in my family, they'd do whatever we asked."

"Okay, okay," Danny breathed, running both hands through his hair this time as he tried not to look at the dead Steve duplicate on the floor between them. "All right, I want you to get some pages from Tamara's file to her. Break it to her that Steve has died, give her something to print with it about the Navy, just nothing specific about the experiment. We don't need people knowing Steve hulks – hulked – _hulks_ out."

"Why do you want Anela to break this?"

"Not _break_ it exactly," Danny said. "Just let the Navy know we have enough information that even if Steve's not in the picture, they'd better leave us alone."

"You're evil," Kono said.

"Hey, I hang out with you, what do you expect?"

Kono grinned.

Chin moved closer as he hung up his phone. "Max is going to bring his kit and a crime scene tech with him. He assured me he will personally perform the autopsy."

"Will he know it's not Steve?" Kono asked.

"As soon as he finds out the tattoos aren't permanent, he will," Danny replied. "Get him to do DNA, the works. It'll buy us more than the standard twenty-four hours."

Chin met Danny's eyes. "So we can find the _real_ Steve."

Danny nodded. "We need to get out of here. Come on."

Each of them took one last look at the Not-Steve on the floor, none of them able to keep their guts from twisting just a bit because for all they knew, both twins were now dead. They just. Didn't. Know.

"_Aloha__ '__oe_," Chin murmured.

Then the three turned and ran out onto the pier.

* * *

><p>"What do you <em>mean<em> she took off? With our damn _car_?" Danny whispered fiercely.

Mary nodded. "She came in, told me and Kamekona that the man who attacked us was dead. Then she took off without another word."

Danny paced away, scrubbing his fingernails through his beard. "Jesus Christ," he muttered. "So she _does_ know it wasn't Steve, because there's no _way_ she could've known you were hogtied in that attic," he said, a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. "God_dammit_."

"_Danny!_" Mary whispered just as fiercely, grabbing his bicep and forcing him to face her. "Where's my _brother_?"

Danny looked furtively around. Kono was using Chin's phone to talk to her reporter cousin, while Rachel was coming out of one of the bedrooms where Grace had just gone to sleep. He couldn't tell Rachel. He had no way of knowing if she had some way of contacting anyone. And he didn't have to think about whether or not to lie to Grace at least until she woke up.

He knew, though, there was no way he could lie to his daughter about Steve. No way.

And then Kamekona. He could trust the big guy.

Okay. He could do this.

"Kono, keep an eye on Rachel. Kamekona, Mary, I need you out front."

Kamekona and Mary looked at each other. Rachel wore a face like she wanted to get a gun back in her hand and shoot her ex-husband with it. But she wisely kept silent.

Danny walked with Kamekona and Mary down past the end of the driveway and onto the dirt access road before stopping. He looked all around, but saw nothing and no one close to them.

"Danny, if you don't tell me where my brother is, I will disarm you and shoot you myself!" Mary said. Her voice was even and quiet. Deadly.

Kind of like Steve when he got _really_ angry.

Well…before the whole morphing thing, that was.

"The man who came out of the jungle with us wasn't your brother," Danny stated. He waited almost a minute to let that sink in, as Chin joined them.

"How was that not Ste—oh, my _God_. That was the twin?" Mary asked.

"We think so," Chin replied.

Kamekona's eyes widened. "_Ke__'__u!_ Are you _serious_?"

"Here's how we're going to play it," Danny began, stealing glances all around them. In the dark of night, he couldn't be completely sure they were alone. He kept his voice quiet, forcing everyone to lean forward like they were in a football huddle.

Danny allowed himself a small smile. A reference his partner would appreciate.

_If_ his partner was still alive.

Mary reached out and placed a hand on Danny's shoulder. He smiled gratefully. "Okay, we don't honestly know where the real Steve is."

"Shit," Mary swore.

"At one point he separated from us, right before we got to the road," Chin explained.

"To take a leak?" Mary asked.

Danny snorted. "So crude. Yes, Mary, to take a leak."

She flashed him a grin.

"He wasn't gone maybe ten minutes. I'd just about made it twenty feet into the jungle to go after him when I found him. Said he'd just needed a couple minutes to think and didn't say much after that. I figured he was locking down all his emotions."

"Why would he be doing that, _brah_?" Kamekona asked.

Danny took a deep breath. If he kept carding his own fingers through his hair like he was doing yet _again_, he'd be bald by the time Grace turned twelve. "Catherine knew about the experiments. She knew what they did to Steve and the other men they used as guinea pigs."

"I will fucking _kill__her_!" Mary howled, whirling like she'd be able to find her right then and there.

"Hey, hey, down, Lady McG," Kamekona said, getting a surprised look from Mary and a chuckle from Danny. "Come on, _sistah_, we gotta keep ourselves together right now for your bro, yeah?"

Mary glared at him, but then her face softened. "Yeah," she said with a nod. "Yeah, okay."

"Head in the game," Chin said, tapping on her temple.

She made a face at him. Danny had forgotten she would've known Chin Ho growing up as much as Steve had. He shook his head to clear those thoughts away. McGarrett's childhood was a topic he didn't have time to think about at the moment.

"Apparently Catherine found out about a month after the experiment ended that Steve was one of the test subjects."

"Danny," Chin breathed, eyes widening.

"What?"

"She said there were only _two_ subjects who survived. Steve and another, who was still in an insane asylum."

"As far as she _knew_," Danny corrected. "But what's—"

Chin nodded.

"Oh, my God, you think the _twin_ was the other test subject," Danny concluded.

"Got it in one, _brah_."

"You mean we had an insane person here with us?" Mary asked.

Kamekona just watched them, seemingly unfazed. Though anyone who could read his eyes would know differently.

"I think we're _all_ insane," Danny muttered. "But no, I don't think the twin ever _was_ in an asylum. I think he and Steve were subjected to the same experiments, and whether or not the Navy thought it worked on either of them, they both survived. The twin was sent back to Wo Fat, and Steve was allowed to return to his life as a SEAL."

"Until the Hulk part of him was activated at my apartment building," Mary chimed in.

"Exactly," Danny nodded. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was his twin that hit him with that needle in your parking lot. But Mary…"

"What?" She looked between him and Chin. "Danny, what aren't you telling me?"

"I honestly don't know how reliable Cat's information is at this point," he said honestly. "But according to her, because Tamara and his doctor tried to give Steve a cure to the experiment but didn't get to finish administering it, his body's poisoning itself with gamma radiation."

Mary's breath hitched. "What does that mean?" He looked away. "Danny, what does that _mean_?"

"Catherine said he was dying," Chin offered, well aware that Danny couldn't bring himself to say the words.

Mary Ann's eyes welled up with tears. "Not him, too. Please. Danny, please, not him, too!"

She launched herself into his arms. It took a moment for the surprise to wear off, and he found himself holding her so tightly he thought he might just break her. Her face was buried in his good shoulder, and he fought the dull ache from his bad one to raise his hand and let it rest on the back of her head.

"Hey," he said softly, tugging on her hair a bit. She leaned back far enough that he could look her in her red-rimmed and tear-soaked eyes. "We don't know that a single word of what she said was true. She could've just been saying that to make Steve think there was no hope for him, so that maybe she could get him back to the Navy."

"But why did she free him instead of letting Charles Stuart have him?" Chin asked.

Mary sagged against Danny, laying her cheek on his shoulder. He half-smiled and continued to hold her close, rocking side-to-side just a bit.

"None of this is making any sense to me," Danny admitted, slowly stroking Mary's hair without even realizing he was doing it. "It almost smells like she's gone double-agent or something."

"Or rogue," Chin added grimly.

"Okay, look, there's a lot more to this, but we've got to get out of here." Danny gently pushed Mary away from him as she snuffled and wiped her face on her sleeve. "And right now, all we have is Kamekona's Jeep since Cat disappeared with the Mazda."

"We won't all fit in that, Danny, unless the girls sit on our laps." He waggled his eyebrows at Mary, who rolled her eyes in return.

"We'll make ourselves fit," Danny replied, "until we can get a larger vehicle. You do that for us, Big Guy?"

"No problem, get me a few miles west and I'm your man."

"Good," Danny said. "Now, we are _not_ telling Rachel that wasn't Steve. She needs to believe he's dead as much as anyone. I will, however, be telling Grace the truth. I just have to make sure she can keep the secret from her mother."

A strange sound came from the direction of the beach house. All heads whipped toward it.

"That sounded like Kono!" Chin exclaimed. All four of them ran back to the driveway, Kamekona moving as fast as he could. At the last minute he high-tailed it to the back bedroom to look after Grace as Danny, Chin and Mary, weapons drawn, entered the kitchen.

Rachel was there, with a gun trained on Kono. Unfortunately, the two women weren't alone.

* * *

><p><em>Terms:<em>

_Aloha__ '__oe_ – Farewell to you

_Ke__'__u!_ – common exclamation of disapproval; grunt, protest, contradict


	32. Chapter 32

**CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO**

"Hesse," Chin breathed.

"Jesus Christ," Danny groused, pointing his gun directly at their uninvited guest. "I have had _just_ about enough of every goddamn freak I've ever encountered crawling out of the woodwork!"

"What's the matter, Detective? Not happy to see me?"

"That's _Lieutenant_ to you, Hesse, and I swear to _God_ I will finish what Steve started if you don't shut the fuck up and call your goddamn lapdog off my teammate."

"I am _no __one__'__s_ lapdog, _Daniel_," Rachel seethed.

"She's quite right, _Lieutenant_," Hesse sneered. "Shame you were too blinded thinking with the wrong head to see she was in charge all along."

Danny narrowed his eyes, managing not to turn beet red.

"Quiet, you fool!" Rachel hissed. "Now you listen to me, Daniel, and you listen good. I am taking my daughter, and I am taking your McGarrett, wherever he's disappeared to, and Victor and I are leaving. Are we clear?"

"Oh, we're clear all right," Danny said, gun never wavering from Hesse's face. Hesse, for his part, had his gun firmly trained on Mary Ann. "We're clear that you will die before you go _anywhere_ with _our_ daughter."

Victor laughed out loud. "You never told him?" he asked Rachel.

"Shut up," she growled.

"Told me what?"

"Nothing, Daniel."

"Don't you 'nothing' me, you _bitch_!" he spat. Both Chin's and Kono's eyes widened. "What the _fuck_ aren't you telling me?"

"That little girl isn't your daughter, _Detective_," Victor stated with a smug look on his face as he deliberately used the wrong title. "She's _mine_."

Chin and Kono knew the second what Victor had said hit Danny's brain. He began to tremble, and it was with a building fury neither had _ever_ seen in their task force's second-in-command. Mary gasped and looked up at Danny. She could see it, too, and flinched.

"He's lying," Kono growled. Rachel shoved the gun hard into her ribcage. She scowled at the British woman.

"I honestly couldn't care less if that little girl is truly my blood or if she's the daughter of the goddamn devil himself," Danny said so quietly they could barely hear him. "And whether you're lying or not is irrelevant, you stupid sonofabitch," he continued, eyes boring into Hesse's.

The interesting thing to Chin was that Hesse actually seemed taken aback by Danny's aplomb.

"I'm going to tell you how this is going to go down," Danny continued. Chin trained his gun on Rachel. "First, Steve McGarrett is dead."

That definitely got their enemies' attention.

"He died out on that pier because of that fucking experiment. It fucking _killed_ him," Danny told them. "So you aren't leaving here with his body, because the ME is already on-scene. Second, you are going to lower your weapons, toss them to the floor, and get on your knees with your hands behind your heads."

"Why on _Earth_ would we do that, Daniel? It seems to me if you even attempt to take us down, you'll only risk at least _two_ of you dying, and we'll have _our_ daughter anyway."

Mary's left hand reached out and grabbed the back of Danny's shirt, fisting it so tightly it stretched across his chest. She made a whimpering sound.

Then he saw it.

Or rather…_him_.

Danny smiled.

"What the hell is so funny, Daniel?"

"I take it back," Danny said, relaxing his stance as Chin grinned when he saw what Mary had seen. "You two aren't going to lower your weapons after all. And you're not going to make it out of here alive."

Victor snorted at him. His gun wavered a moment, and that was when the first shot rang out.

Rachel whirled to her left. Standing there at the window, rifle pointed directly at her, was none other than Steve McGarrett.

The _real_ one.

"You said he was _dead_!" Rachel gasped as Victor bled out on the floor behind her.

"Not yet," Steve replied, a sickening grin spreading across his face as her finger tightened around the trigger of her gun.

Catherine appeared just behind Steve, and suddenly Danny understood where she'd gone. She _must__'__ve_ known the dead man wasn't her Steve, and also known where to find him. She'd probably rescued him singlehandedly, and brought him back.

Suddenly Danny was very much in love with Catherine and forgave her everything she may have done to date.

"How's it feel being lied to, Rachel?" Danny asked.

Steve's eyes darted to Danny's. Danny returned his look coolly, arms folding over his chest. He knew what Steve was silently asking him.

And Danny silently answered in the only way he could. Because while had loved Rachel once, there was no turning back from their present course. From what Rachel had started before Danny had ever even met her.

And he _wasn__'__t_ going to let her just kill his partner.

Or ruin Grace's life any more than she already had.

Danny himself wasn't sure whether he'd actually nodded or not, but when Rachel's arm tensed to fire, Steve's bullet left his weapon first.

* * *

><p><em>One Week Later…<em>

"We have Lieutenant Commander Tamara's files. We have the recording Chin Ho Kelly made of the conversation in the governor's office. We have Rachel Edwards, who, although injured in a firefight with Lieutenant Commander McGarrett, has agreed to reveal the remaining members of the entire Yakuza from top to bottom, as well as reveal her remaining contacts from her father's business, and go into Witness Protection."

Danny tensed. Steve leaned almost imperceptibly closer.

"We have Ms. Kalakaua willing to testify about the Lieutenant Rollins lookalike, and we have Lieutenant Catherine Rollins herself who is willing to testify as to the work she was doing as a double agent within the United States Navy. The Navy themselves have agreed to open their files on this matter. The fact that Rollins found, rescued, and brought you to save the lives of your teammates," he continued, with a look at Steve, "is also working in her favor."

Newly-appointed Governor Denning paced along the length of the massive conference table. One week after the first call had come in from Lieutenant Williams, Denning now found himself and his security detail, along with half the Honolulu Police Department, shutting down the entirety of Tapa Tower, having it searched for bugs and any threats that could possibly be imagined, and then smuggling all these former fugitives inside.

And all because of a hidden camera the governor's security team had found just before Williams and Kelly agreed to meet with Governor Denning in the office of the governor's residence. A place Williams had seemed to not like one bit, and given the portion of the story that explained the previous governor's and Wo Fat's demise, Denning could understand why.

What he _hadn__'__t_ been able to understand, though, were the missing pieces of the story woven together by the two men. Parts of it seemed improbable, other parts highly unlikely, and still other parts like maybe the two were suffering from _folie __à __deux_.

Then Kelly had asked if the governor's office held any security cameras.

Why, yes, it did. However, someone had disabled them the day of the double murder. But Denning had found something taped to the underside of a drawer in Jameson's desk. Something that had made the new governor sit up and take notice.

It had been a small camera card, much like the one he used in his own personal digital camera. He had put it into his laptop and seen images of a man unfamiliar to himself, but who had been identified for him as John McGarrett…Lieutenant Commander McGarrett's father. Crystal clear footage from the state-of-the-art security camera had showed the elder McGarrett fiddling with an old mantle clock on a credenza not far from the governor's desk.

So Denning's security men had gone to have a look at that clock and had found a one-terabyte card attached to a processor, hooked into a tiny camera lens that peeked out of the clock face. Denning had chosen to watch the new footage alone. And he'd been glad he'd insisted as much. Because thanks to the recording, he'd seen the truth for himself.

After witnessing McGarrett's change, something he knew had changed _his_ life forever, Denning agreed to help the former Five-0 members and those who had helped _them_ as long as his people would be allowed to prosecute each and every member of those (who were still alive) who'd concocted the entire scheme starting so many, many years prior. Five-0 had agreed, with one exception: Williams had insisted Rachel be placed in WITSEC rather than prosecuted. Given everything the team had been through, Denning felt this was one request he could live with, and so had put the call in to the Feds.

They had agreed.

Rachel would be given one final hour with her daughter, supervised, after her testimony was concluded. When that hour was over, Rachel Edwards would cease to exist, and Grace would never see her mother again. Denning had made note of how Williams had twitched with that news, but after looking at McGarrett for long moments, the man had agreed. Honestly, the new governor didn't know how the hell the suddenly single father was even holding up under the circumstances.

So now here Denning was, gone from Lieutenant Governor to Governor because of an assassination. Gone from thinking it was Jameson's own Five-0 task force that had been her undoing, only to find out it'd been her _own_ actions all along that had killed her. And he'd learned that the United States Navy had turned the leader of the task force she created into a monster.

A monster both Williams and Kelly assured him Williams could control, even if McGarrett couldn't.

Denning still had his doubts. But he'd witnessed for himself the interaction between the large, green and frankly frightening creature, and the almost comically one-foot-shorter Lieutenant Williams, on the hidden camera footage. He'd seen for himself how Wo Fat had killed Jameson; how the morphed McGarrett had thrown himself in the way of the bullet meant for Williams; how Wo Fat had pumped two more rounds into the large green man; and how Williams had put a bullet between Wo Fat's eyes.

There had been no malice in the monster when he interacted with Williams. There had been what seemed like confusion as Williams spoke, but ultimately the creature truly hadn't seemed dangerous at all. Williams and Kelly assured him this was the case.

Denning was wary, but agreed to reinstate Five-0 _only_ if the entirety of the group that had been on the run or helping those on the run met in one place at one time so he didn't have to have the same conversation over and over again.

And so that was what found them here now, together. As far as the crimes that had been committed in California, a personal conversation with that state's governor had smoothed things over enough that charges would not be filed against the members of Five-0. But there was still the U.S. Navy to deal with.

He looked at each of these people around the table one by one, meeting each of their eyes, holding their gaze, and nodding before moving along to the next.

The task force leader, looking for all the world like a normal, average, everyday man. But hiding a terrifying secret, and sitting so close to his 2IC there was literally maybe a millimeter of air between them. That 2IC, whose eyes challenged Denning's even now, as though daring him to take back a single thing he'd given them in the hours of negotiation and discussion the men had shared. Denning resisted the urge to glare in return and just moved his gaze along.

The Hawaiian cousins, one recovering well from the minor skull fracture and severe concussion she'd received. And Detective Kelly, who the Chief of Police had agreed to give his proper rank and title as Lieutenant in the wake of the truly unbelievable conspiracy being unraveled. It was something Williams had insisted upon that Denning had thought a small price to pay for all the information he was going to get out of them for this mega-prosecution his administration was undertaking in conjunction with the federal government.

Then there was the man built like a sumo wrestler who apparently sold the best shave ice on the island. Something Denning thought he should verify for himself here at some point. The small but defiant blond woman, McGarrett's sister, who was hard to get a read on one way or the other. One of Honolulu's medical examiners, a man who was quiet and tight-lipped, but whose eyes took in every single solitary detail surrounding them. Another man who appeared stoned even now, who went by the appropriate name of 'Toast,' and claimed he had uncovered the fact that Jenna Kaye's apparently dead fiancé had been none other than Matthew Stuart AKA Matthew Williams.

It all made Denning's head hurt.

And Agent Kaye was still missing. The CIA denied her existence. Williams, McGarrett and Kelly wondered what her real name even was, and if she'd _ever_ had ties to the CIA at all or had been lying about all that, too. Lying well enough that all her documentation and the paper trail had been real enough to fool Five-0 once upon a time.

"There's only one more thing, Commander McGarrett."

Steve's and every other pair of eyes at the table turned to his.

"You and Lieutenant Rollins must appear in front of the Judge Advocate General to be brought up on charges of desertion and multiple minor charges of wanton destruction of property, slander and a whole host of other crimes longer than my arm."

"Are you fucking _kidding_ me?" Williams seethed, but Denning saw McGarrett's fingertips brush the back of Williams' hand ever-so-lightly. Williams sagged back into the chair. His eyes were blazing and his jaw was set with lips pressed tightly together, but he stayed quiet after that.

Which, Denning was given to understand, was nothing short of a miracle in and of itself.

Suddenly the door to the large conference room opened, and a voice boomed loud in the quiet room. "That won't be necessary, Governor Denning."

Everyone turned to face the door.

Nearly everyone gasped.

Danny, Chin, Kono and Steve immediately rose to their feet, with McGarrett saluting the man who stood before them. "Mr. President," he said smartly.

* * *

><p><em>Terms:<em>

_ME_ – Medical Examiner

_folie__à__deux_ – from the French for "a madness shared by two," also known as a "shared psychosis" in which a delusional belief is transmitted from one individual to another

WITSEC – United States Federal Witness Protection Program

_2IC_ – Second-in-Command


	33. Chapter 33

**CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE**

"Lieutenant Commander McGarrett," the president said, nodding toward him. "Lieutenant Williams," he continued with a nod at Danny. "I don't have much time for my unexpected stopover here in your fine city, but I have some information and news for you. Please," he finished, splaying his hand out to indicate they should be seated.

Everyone sat down, including the governor, leaving the President of the United States to sit at the head of the table. He looked around at the odd assortment of people who seemed to have little to nothing in common at all, yet had uncovered and gotten to the bottom of something he never thought he'd see during his lifetime: blatant corruption and downright inhumane acts by some members of the U.S. military.

"Ladies and gentlemen, those within the ranks of the United States Navy who have been involved in this conspiracy have, with your already magnanimous assistance, been placed under arrest and will be going before the proper authorities to answer for their crimes against the many brave men, women and their families that they've hurt, including you and Lieutenant Rollins, Commander McGarrett."

Steve opened his mouth to protest the rank, but the president held up his hand. "You have been promoted for your dedication to duty and as small recompense for the experiment you were subjected to, and are to report to Pearl for a special assignment at ten tomorrow morning."

"Special assignment?" Danny breathed, tensing like he was ready to fight. Once again, Steve's fingertips to the back of his friend's hand stilled his mouth.

Governor Denning shook his head in disbelief. The guy from New Jersey was even willing to take on the leader of the free world. No wonder Kelly believed he could handle the green creature.

"I understand from Governor Denning that he is reinstating the Five-0 task force, and that the job of leading it will once again be offered to you, Commander McGarrett. However, though I understand that Lieutenant Rollins' claims that you are dying have been disproved through radiation testing, there is a special unit which is being formed at Pearl to specifically study what was done to you, to ensure that you remain healthy long enough to live out a natural life, and to, if possible, find a cure for you that will not leave any harmful side effects."

Danny elbowed Steve and couldn't help the smile it brought to both their faces.

Mary grinned.

Kono and Chin fistbumped.

The president smiled back at them, but then his face turned serious. "You must understand, Commander, that while your medical status is considered Eyes Only and known to very few, you have to keep it in check and not show yourself to the people of Hawaii, or you will have to be moved to a secure and desolate location to keep your condition from becoming common knowledge. If you resume leadership of Five-0, this will be extremely difficult for you to maintain."

Steve nodded solemnly. "I understand, sir."

"In addition to that, each and every one of you around this table is going to be given the next six months to handle personal affairs in amongst all the hours that testifying, going through red tape and paperwork, and completing this investigation will take. You will _all_ be considered members of the Five-0 task force, but you will not be required to do anything further with that instatement after the investigation and trials have completed their course."

"That could take years," Denning said.

"Yes, it could in normal courts," the president replied with a nod. "However, JAG is inclined to move swiftly, and given that Lieutenant Rollins was acting under the orders of both criminal and non-criminal supervisors, she is being redeployed within two weeks to ensure she remains out of the spotlight. Otherwise, there will most assuredly be calls for her involvement to be punished, and given that she's fully cooperating and has requested to be sent out to sea, I am inclined to comply."

"She asked to be deployed?" Steve blurted out, ears simultaneously pinking in embarrassment.

"Yes, Commander," the president replied. "I'm afraid she's got two more weeks in a secure location within this state before she ships out." He spared a knowing glance for Steve. "You will be permitted to spend time with her before she goes."

Steve swallowed hard, wondering why the hell Cat decided being so far away was better than being near. He suspected she was feeling guilty as hell, in spite of what she'd ultimately done to help. In spite of the fact that he'd told her he didn't blame her, still loved her, still wanted her in his life. He swallowed again. "Thank you, sir."

Danny laid his hand palm-flat on Steve's thigh and squeezed. Steve took a deep breath and nodded so slightly he knew only Danny would notice.

"As for your twin, whose body Dr. Bergman handed over to my personal medical team, our people, mostly researchers, have determined that he was indeed the second man who survived the same experiments you underwent, Commander, but that he _was_ administered the cure."

"It killed him," Steve concluded.

"It would seem so. I'm sorry."

Steve nodded in acknowledgement as the president looked to Danny.

"On the matter of your daughter, Lieutenant Williams…"

Danny's eyes snapped up to meet the president's.

"I understand that there were claims made about her true parentage, and that you have refused to allow medical testing to refute or endorse those claims, although she has had a blood sample taken."

"That's correct," Danny nodded. "She's my daughter and she will always be my daughter no matter what her blood says."

"I will tell you for the record that the DNA test has been completed for reasons of national security, and the records have been sealed. They can only be opened under my direct order, by my hand."

Danny's jaw dropped.

"Should you and your daughter decide at some point that you wish to know the answer, you will go through me and I will hand you the test results myself. I, or one of my successors."

Danny swallowed hard. "Thank you, sir," he whispered, looking down at his hands, which were now folded in his lap.

Steve shifted just enough to the left that his and Danny's arms were touching.

"Lieutenant Kelly, Officer Kalakaua, as for the clouds hanging over your heads with regards to the thefts from the Asset Forfeiture Locker from years ago and more recently, and your actions during the course of this investigation, those clouds have been lifted away. Your name," he said, looking at Chin, "is cleared and your rank restored, Lieutenant."

"Thank you," Chin and Kono said in unison. Kono flashed a brilliant smile at her cousin, who looked a little too gob smacked to quite return it.

"And I can assure all of you, ladies and gentlemen, that none of what you have done during due course of completing this investigation, uncovering a military conspiracy and acting in due course of your appointment as guardians of the people of Hawaii, will in any way reflect negatively upon your service or criminal records."

The president rose to his feet.

Everyone around the table followed suit.

The Secret Service surrounded the president in a semicircle as he looked once again at each of the room's occupants, then nodded. "Each and every one of you is to be commended," he stated. "And when all is said and done, you _will_ be receiving special commendations for your work to end something that started before my administration ever took over. Something I am _very_ glad to be taking down thanks to you. And understand that we will _find_ Jenna Kaye, and she, too, will be brought to justice."

The president moved down alongside the table and held his hand out to Steve. Steve took it, and the president smiled at him. "Keep the faith, Commander. And be careful."

"I will, sir," Steve replied with a curt nod.

The president turned to Danny and held out his hand, which Danny took with all the confidence of his cocksure Jersey origins. "And you, Lieutenant, keep your eye on him," he said with a small smile.

Danny all-out grinned as Steve's eyes widened. "That an order, Mr. President?" he asked.

Mary couldn't help the snort that escaped her nose. Kono hid her mouth behind her hand and Chin's eyes were twinkling.

The president fought to keep his face as neutral as possible as he looked from Williams to McGarrett and back to Williams again. "Consider it a _direct_ order, Lieutenant," he said.

Danny's thousand-watt grin was in full force as he brought his hand to his forehead in what was an effective…if not altogether totally proper…salute. "I take my duty to my country very seriously, sir. Consider your order followed."

It was all he could do not to burst out laughing as the president moved to the other end of the room to consult with Denning.

Steve looked down at Danny, crossed his arms over his chest and glared ominously at him.

"What?" Danny asked innocently.

"I hate you," Steve whispered. "You have no idea how much I hate you right now."

Mary grinned as she peeked around her brother's imposing stature. "No, you don't," she said cheekily.

"What she said," Danny grinned.

Steve rolled his eyes. "Babysitter."

"Manhandler," Danny shot back.

"Ladies, the _president_ is in the room!" Chin admonished.

This time it was Kono who snorted out a laugh.

Kamekona approached them, grinning from ear to ear. He put one arm around Steve's shoulders and the other around Danny's and said, "I think this is definitely going to be an interesting next fifty years or so, don't you, _brah_?" he ended with a look at Steve.

The corner of Steve's mouth twitched. "Grace is waiting," he said, looking first at Danny, then around at the rest of them. "Let's go home."

Danny smiled.

The president turned near the door to address them. "Andre Gide once said 'There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them.'" Steve stiffened, but Mary placed her hand on his forearm while Danny bumped lightly into him with his shoulder. "I say to all of you that you have faced and beaten monsters worse than any I have encountered in my years in politics, and that in the case of those of you present in this room, I believe Andre Gide was one hundred percent correct."

With that, the President of the United States and all those who kept him safe, were gone.

"Yeah," Danny said quietly, looking up at his partner. "Let's go home."

The all-new and expanded Five-0 task force quietly exited the conference room. Danny was never more than a few inches from Steve's side. Mary was never more than a few from Danny's. Chin and Kono strode confidently on either side of the three of them, as always, at their flanks. They walked into the bright Hawaiian sun as one line, one unit, one force that was together as they should always have been. An _ohana_ that had proven nothing could tear apart.

Not even the Hulk.

* * *

><p>Denning watched them go.<p>

He sat back in a chair and took a deep breath.

His cell phone rang. He looked at the display and thumbed the line open.

"Yes, I was wondering when I would hear from you," he answered quietly, "Agent Kaye."

* * *

><p><strong>There's an epilogue coming, so it's not <em>quite<em> over yet!**


	34. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

Danny was standing about six feet in front of Steve. They were just looking at each other in the center of a circular clearing, in the middle of the Ewa Forest Reserve on Oahu.

Chin and Kono were each guarding opposite ends of the only access road to their location, ready to let Danny know the moment any other signs of life might appear. In their position, with the massive secret they were guarding, you couldn't be too careful.

Mary Ann was waiting with Kono and Grace, because today the little girl was going to be introduced to a new friend for the very first time. She already knew all about him, and said she understood and wouldn't be scared. She and her father had meticulously researched the subject matter together in the form of comic books and cartoons, and even with an episode or two from an old 1970s TV show to round out the experience.

Danny had carefully explained what Steve was like when he was hulked-out, including the fact that he wouldn't understand most of what she said to him, that he was very much like a child half his daughter's age. Grace was ready, and Danny knew it had to happen just in case his partner accidentally morphed in Grace's presence at some point in the future.

A screaming girl and a scared monster was a combination he wanted to avoid.

So that's why they were out here.

Steve hadn't hulked out in over a month, and the specialists and researchers whose lives were currently devoted to his cure and general well-being made it clear he needed to because the gamma radiation was building up to frightening levels in his system. He had to morph, to release it.

It sucked, but there wasn't anything else to be done.

Besides, Steve really wanted to get morphing out of his system before Catherine came to visit in a week. He'd convinced her that he understood why she'd been working both for and against him, and although she was still unsure, there was nothing to be done for a man so deeply in love, but to just let it happen.

Danny would testify to that under oath, and from experience.

So here they were, staring each other down. The partners who'd had to start living in the same house just so Danny could be there if Steve hulked out. Danny bitched constantly, but had never been happier. Grace loved it. It helped to have Uncle Steve around with her mother gone from her life.

Steve looked like he was waiting for an answer to something. Danny shook his head. With great force.

"Steven, I am not going to set you on fire."

"Oh, come on, Danny, you know I'll heal up."

Danny glared at him.

Steve's face brightened. "You're always saying you want to shoot me! How about that?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Must every single method you come up with for getting your morph gene to switch on involve this level of _violence_? You are not right in the head!"

"I have a knife…"

"No."

"Taser?"

"I am _not_ going to taser you, Steven."

"Well, what would you suggest? You want me to have Chin shoot at you so I can dive in front of you and take the bullet?"

Danny threw his hands up in the air and stalked toward his partner. "How about I just punch you?"

Steve smirked. "That doesn't hurt enough to make me change."

Danny was now less than six inches away. "Okay," he said evenly, eyes boring into Steve's, "how about I just scare you a little, then."

Steve crossed his arms and looked down his nose at him. "As if," he snorted. Then his eyes narrowed as Danny leaned a little closer, even raising himself a bit on his tiptoes to get as close to Steve's face as possible.

"Steven," Danny said, face deadly serious. "Grace and I are going back to New Jersey."

Steve's eyes widened.

His jaw dropped.

A low growl escaped his throat, followed by, "You bastard."

His skin began to glow.

Danny stepped back and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Sorry," he said with a shrug.

Steve roared, furious.

Danny's phone rang.

"_I'm going to guess that sound means Steve has changed."_

Danny opened his mouth to reply as the fully morphed creature tossed his ripped shirt away. Damn. Next time they were going to have to remember to make Steve strip down to nothing but shorts first.

Big green Steve moved forward, wrapped his arms around Danny and lifted him into the air before Danny had a chance to answer the question, squishing the phone still held in Danny's hand between their chests.

Steve growled.

Danny grinned. "Good to see you too, you big baby," he said.

"_Danny?"_

"Steve, put me down."

…_growl…_

"_Danny, you there?"_

"Crap. Steve, I didn't mean it. I just said it to get you to morph."

…_GROWL…_

"_Danny, do you need help?"_

"Steve, we're not going _anywhere_. I'm your babysitter, remember On orders of the President?"

Steve the Creature grunted, seemed to sniff Danny's hair for a moment, and tighten his arms around him even more.

"Did you just _smell_ me?" Danny practically screeched.

Big green Steve smiled.

Danny started wiggling around. "Steven J. McMonster, _put __me __down_!"

Danny was finally back to having both feet firmly planted on the ground. "Jesus Christ," he griped, putting the phone to his ear. "Yeah, Kono, I'm good. Give us about fifteen minutes and then send Mary and Grace up, okay?"

"_Sure thing, Danny."_

Danny put the phone back into his pocket and eyed his big, green partner. "I can't believe that actually made you morph," he said.

The creature cocked his head, lower lip sticking out in a ridiculous-looking pout for someone so large and, in any other circumstances, frightening. He reached one hand out and Danny took it with a grin. "Okay, okay, you big galoot," he said with a shake of his head. "Next time I'll just shoot you."

* * *

><p>A very small hand reached out.<p>

A large green hand flinched away.

"Daddy, why is Uncle Steve afraid of me?"

Danny smiled. "He's not afraid of you, Monkey. He's afraid he might _hurt_ you."

"He's really big."

"Yes, he is."

"And that's really Uncle Steve?"

Danny nodded. "See the tattoos? You recognize those, right?"

Grace looked at the creature's right bicep, then his left. "Yeah, they _look_ like his, but funny-colored."

"That's because his skin's turned green."

Hulk Steve stared intently at Grace, who stared just as intently right back.

"Are you scared, Grace?"

"No," she replied. "You explained it to me. I know he won't hurt me." She continued to gaze at Steve. "Besides, those are Uncle Steve's eyes. It's like _Beauty __and __the __Beast_, Danno. At the end, Belle _knew_ the prince really _was_ the Beast because of his eyes."

"That's right, Monkey. Just like _Beauty __and __the __Beast_." Danny thought the analogy was a damn fine one and felt pride well up within him.

She reached her hand out again, and this time, when it touched the plane of ripped green abs, the creature didn't flinch. Instead he crouched down, seemed to realize he was still taller than the girl, and lowered himself further to his knees, sitting on the backs of his heels with his toes dug into the ground to get as low as possible.

Tentatively, he reached out. Huge green fingertips touched small pale white ones.

Grace smiled and whispered, "I think maybe he's not so afraid anymore."

"Leave it to you to be worried about _him_ being afraid," Danny said with a shake of his head.

The monster had gone down to her level just like Steve did whenever he talked directly to Grace. And Grace, maybe unbelievably, but maybe not so much, hugged him.

And if there was wetness in big, green Steve's eyes as the child put her trust in him even in his morphed state, well, until a cure was finally found for Steve, nothing could make Danny happier.

No, things weren't all okay. Grace missed her mother. Danny keenly felt the hole left in his heart by Matt and Rachel's lies. Steve was morose more often than not thinking about the mother he'd never gotten to know as a mother and the brother he'd never known he had.

Not to mention that he now had no choice but to become a monster every now and then, spending his days and nights praying for a cure. Praying that he wouldn't morph out in public. Having to be so overly cautious out in the field that he and Danny fought constantly about what he was and was not allowed to do in terms of putting himself in harm's way.

But so far, incredibly and with Chin's and Kono's constant assistance, they were making it work. Between that and ensuring Grace had round-the-clock care and protection, life was exhausting.

Danny held no delusions about Happily Ever After for any of them, in spite of the fact that he and Mary were now officially dating, and that Catherine was soon returning to port hopefully, Danny knew Steve was thinking, to stay.

It was a new world for them now. For them, for Hawaii, for Five-0. For all their trusted friends and teammates. It was a _different_ world. Everything they'd once known had changed.

Proving that humans weren't the only things that could morph.

The creature lifted Grace as though she weighed no more than a gnat. When he looked at her, he smiled. Then he looked down at Danny and smiled even bigger.

"Great," Danny groused, "now I have _two_ kids."

But the smile he returned as Mary joined them and immediately ducked into Danny's one-armed embrace, told them he wasn't altogether that displeased about the situation.

The creature grunted.

Grace giggled.

It wasn't okay now, but it would be, someday. Somehow, in some way they would come out of it intact. Danny had to believe it. And he vowed that he'd make Steve believe it, too.

**The End**

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: Well, that was unexpected.<em>

_When I started this story, it honestly was only meant to be a short little piece of crack. It was never supposed to turn into an epic canon-laced Alternate Universe Hulk-fusion H50 saga complete with a conspiracy that nearly twisted my poor little head right off my shoulders with its complexity. IDEK where all that came from, to be frank, but now I'm kinda glad it became the monster (pun intended) that it did._

_Thank __you __so __very, __very __much __to __those __of __you __who __have __made __it __this __far. __To __those __who__'__ve __taken __the __time __to __leave __me __reviews, __sometimes __on __every __single __chapter __as __I __posted __them. __You __may __hate __or __love __what __I __did __to __and __with __the __characters __we __all __know, __but __in __my __defense __I __must __tell __you __that _they _told __the __story. __I __just __typed __it __up __for __them._

_And by the way, it is the current U.S. president I was envisioning while writing the scenes with "the president," but I didn't want to stray into RPS territory, so I never named the president in my story!_

_Oh…one more thing. If you like my writing, check out my website (on my author profile) and have a peek at my new novel that's available on Amazon. Okay, sorry, just had to do the obligatory plug…_


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